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t^OLOC 


LETTERS 

OF   THE 

REV.  DR/BEECHER  AND  REV.  MR.  NETTLETON. 


'NEW  MEASURES" 

IN 

CONDUCTING  REVIVALS  OF  RELIGION. 

WITH  A 

REVIEW  OF  A  SERMON, 

BY  NOVANGLUS. 


If  the  iron  be  blunt,  and  he  do  not  whet  the  edge,  then  must  he  put  t(wmore  strength  :  but  wii- 
dora  is  profitable  to  direct.    Eccles.  x.  10. 

And  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets ;  for  God  is  not  the  author  of  confu- 
sion, but  of  peace,  as  in  all  churches  of  the  saints.    1  Cor.  xiv.  32,  33. 

Let  all  things  be  done  decently,  and  in  order.     1  Cor.  xiv.  40. 

Also,  that  the  soul  be  without  knowledge,  it  is  not  good ;  and  he  that  hasteth  with  his  feet  sin- 
neth.    Prov.  xix.  2. 

The  Lord  was  not  in  the  earthquake.     1  Kings  xix.  11. 

Of  some  have  compassion,  making  a  difference  ;  and  others  save  with  fear,  pulhng  them  out  of 
the  fire  :  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh.    Jude  22,  23. 


PUBLISHED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  SEVERAL  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW-YORK. 


NEW- YORK: 
G.  &.  C.  CARVILL.  BROADWAY. 

1828. 


Southern  Dishiel  o/JVen-  York,  st. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1G28,  in  the 
fifty-second  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  -America,  G.  &  C.  Carvill, 
of  the  said  District,  have  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they 
claim  as  proprietors,  in  the  Avords  following,  to  wit  : 

Letters  of  the  Rev.  Dr  Beecher  and  Rev.  Mr.  Nettleton,  on  the  "  New  Measures"  in  con- 
ducting; Revivals  of  Religion.     With  a  Review  of  a  Sermon,  by  Novaiiglus. 
*  If  the  iron  be  bhint  and  he  do  not   whet  the  edge,  then  must  he  put  to  more  strength  :   but 
■wisdom  i.s  prnf.lable  to  direct      Kccles  x.  '0. 

And  the  spirits  of  the  priiphets  are  subject  tn  the  prophets;  for  God  is  not  the  author  of  con- 
fusion, but  of  peace,  as  in  all  churches  (if  the  saints.     I  Cor   .siv.  32,  33. 

Let  all  things  be  done  ('ecently.  and  in  order.     1  Cor  xiv.  40, 

Also,  that  the  soul  be  without  knowledge,  it  is  not  good  ;  and  he  that  hasteth  with  his  feet 
sJnneth.     Prov  xix   2. 

The  Lord  was  not  in  the  earthquake.     I  Kings  xix  11 

Of  some  have  compassion,  making  a  difference  •.  and  others  save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out 
of  the  fire:  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh      Ju(te22,  23 

Published  at  the  request  of  several  gentlemen  of  the  city  of  New-York. 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  the 
encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps.  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors 
and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  time  therein  mentioned."  And  also  to  an  Act, 
entitled  "  an  Act,  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learn- 
ing, by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such 
copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of 
designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other  prints  " 

FRED.  J.  BETTP, 
Clerk  qf  the  Southern  District  of  Nen-  York. 


3.  SETMOUR,  PRINTER,  JOHK-^TREST. 


PREFACE. 

The  importance  of  religion,  in  each  and  all  of  its 
multiform  relations,  surpasses  the  comprehension  of 
mortals,  as  it  can  be  fully  resolved  only  by  the  intel- 
ligence of  God.  Other  things  are  known  by  compa- 
rison ;  but  religion  is  so  transcendent,  that  all  other 
things  are  Jess  than  nothing  in  the  contrast,  and 
Avorse  than  nothing  in  the  rivalry  of  this !  Phil.  iii.  8. 
But  this  view  of  the  matter  evinces  its  importance  in 
relation  merely  to  men.  It  has  also  a  relation  to  God, 
its  author,  patron,  and  avenger  :  since,  with  religion, 
and  its  advancement  on  his  footstool,  are  connected 
the  development  of  his  glory,  the  honour  of  his  wor- 
ship, and  the  venerableness  of  his  name  !  Precious 
in  his  sight  are  the  ark  of  his  covenant,  the  lustre  of 
his  mercy-seat,  and  the  glory  of  his  righteousness. 

In  this  aspect  of  the  subject,  the  purity  of  religion 
is  as  important  as  religion  itself;  and  for  this  valid 
reason,  genuine  religion  is,  strictly  speaking,  the  only 
religion.  So  thought  the  apostle,  when  he  wrote 
on  this  topic  to  the  Galatian  church,  in  respect  to  the 
influence  of  certain  innovators,  who,  on  pretence  of 
improving  the  religion  of  Christ,  were  really  adulte- 
rating and  destroying  it. 

Every  departure  from  the  truth  and  order  of"  the 
glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  is  to  be  depre- 
cated. It  is  either  a  corruption  of  the  gospel,  or  a 
fearful  approximation  towards  it.  Obsta  principiis.,  re- 
sist the  beginnings,  is  the  counsel  of  wisdom.  God 
would  not  have  given  so  much  instruction  on  this 
identical  point,  as  the  bible  contains,  if  much  had  not 


IV 


been  necessary.  Many  rays  are  emitted  at  his  order 
from  the  natural  sun,  as  the  means  of  making  our 
day ;  but  who,  that  loves  the  light,  will  deem  one  of 
them  superfluous  ? 

The  importance  of  truth  in  religion,  as  that  which 
brightens  our  moral  atmosphere  and  makes  our  day, 
is  perhaps  more  frequently  admitted  than  the  im- 
portance of  order.  Truth  and  order  are  view^ed 
as  if  so  distinct,  as  to  possess  almost  nothing  in  com- 
mon. What  is  this,  but  to  mistake  them  ?  They  are 
near  relations,  and  almost  inseparable  intimates  !  The 
value  of  truth  is  in  subserviency  to  order;  and  sub- 
jective religion  is  that  influence  of  truth  which, 
"  through  the  eternal  Spirit,"  restores  and  establish- 
es order  in  the  mind.  Hence  a  religious  man  is  one 
who,  through  the  truth,  becomes  "  sober  minded ;" 
having  his  thoughts,  feelings^  motives,  and  conduct, 
all  subordinated  to  his  divine  Superior,  and  ordered  \n 
all  relations  according  to  the  will  of  God.  Such  a 
man,  in  proportion  as  he  is  religious  and  experienced^ 
delights  in  universal  order;  loves  it  in  individuals 
and  communities,  in  things  sacred  and  things  secular, 
in  the  relations  of  life,  domestic,  social,  civil,  and  ec- 
clesiastical. To  be  the  enemy  of  order,  is  to  be  the 
enemy  of  God  :  and  to  seek  the  advancement  of  reli- 
gion by  the  measures  of  disorder,  is  to  misunderstand 
its  nature;  to  exercise  zeal  at  the  expense  of  godli- 
ness; and  to  frustrate  the  end  by  the  means  we 
adopt  to  promote  it.  Unless  we  w^ould  justify  the 
policy  of  the  Jesuit,  and  imitate  the  "  pious  frauds"  of 
the  Romish  propaganda^  and  so  forego  our  claim  to 
the  honour  of protestant  Christianity,  let  us  remember 
that  the  end  cannot  sanctify  or  change  the  moral  na- 
ture of  the  means  ;  and  that  all  our  measures  in  reli- 


giou,  are  first  to  be  sustained  in  the  court  of  con- 
science, in  regard  to  the  purity  of  the  means  and  mo- 
tives which  they  involve,  and  then  carried  forth  into 
performance  to  the  glory  (5f  God.  Otherwise,  we 
shall  sin  in  the  pursuit  of  the  best  ends  ;  and  what  is 
worse  to  us,  be  blinded  against  the  truth  that  would 
work  our  correction. 

The  recent  collisions  of  sentiment,  concerning  the 
proper  method  of  conducting  religious  revivals^  have  but 
revived  a  well  known  controversy.  Not  only  in  our 
own  times,  but  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  have  its  la- 
tent principles  been  agitated  in  the  visible  church. 
Since  the  period  ofthe  reformation,  they  have  been 
more  frequent  and  obtrusive.  In  the  time  of  Luther, 
the  spirit  of  disorganizing  appeared,  to  disparage 
the  cause  of  truth,  to  vex  its  noble  "helpers,"  and  to 
aid  the  malice  of  the  exterior  foe.  The  civil  agita- 
tions ofthe  time  of  Cromwell,  were  but  the  counter- 
part, perhaps  the  consequence,  of  a  worse  radicalism 
in  the  church.  The  mounds  of  order  were  demolish- 
ed, the  friends  of  order  were  denounced;  and  no- 
thing was  spiritual  that  did  not  disclaim  manhood  in 
understandings  and  enlist  in  a  furious  crusade  against 
truth  and  soberness.  Nor  have  we  wanted  the  ex- 
periment in  our  own  country.  The  times  of  Edwards 
and  Whitfield  witnessed  the  currency  of  counterfeits, 
and  were  scourged  with  the  principles,  from  which, 
as  a  general  mint,  the  spurious  coinage  proceeded. 
Whoever  reads  with  attention  the  fourth  part  of  Ed- 
wards on  the  revivals  in  jYeiv-Eno-land,  will  be  convinc- 
ed  that  our  present  dissention  is  itself  no  novelty : 
perhaps  he  will  believe  also,  that  if  "  truth  and  so- 
berness" be  with  the  sentiments  of  Edwards  on  this 
subject,  there  is  sober  and  just  ground  to  suspect 


VI 


the  propriety  of  "  means  and  measures,"  which,  in 
some  respects,  are  rightly  termed  "new;"  for  they 
have  not,  till  of  late,  been  extensively  revived  in  our 
times.  The  concluding  part  of  the  life  of  Brainard 
inspires  the  same  conviction.  Recent  events,  for  a 
few  years  seem  to  betoken  a  struggle  for  principles  in 
this  matter,  to  which  we  may  be  fast  approaching,  and 
the  catastrophe  of  which  we  may  be  equally  unable 
to  avert  or  endure.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  it 
becomes  all  parties  to  be  cautious  ;  "  Walking  cir- 
cumspectly, not  as  fools,  but  as  wise."  Let  us  hear 
to  the  counsel  of  apostles,  and  digest  \i  prayerfully^  be- 
fore we  act  or  speak  in  a  cause,  of  which  the  right 
or  the  wrong  may  not  be  exclusively  on  either  side. 
"For  if  we  would  judge  ourselves,  we  should  not  be 
judged."   1  Cor.  xi.  31. 

Our  reasons  for  the  publication  of  these  letters  in 
their  present  form,  are  several ;  a  persuasion  of  their 
excellence  and  prospective  utility;  a  regard  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  church  in  future  ages,  to  whom  these  do- 
cuments may  be  serviceable :  their  greater  convenience 
in  the  pamphlet  form  for  the  perusal  of  general  read- 
ers; a  demand  from  many  quarters,  where  the  contro- 
versy is  in  some  degree  appreciated,  or  where  an  inte- 
rest in  its  principles  begins  to  be  apparent ;  an  anti- 
cipation of  the  possibility  that  there  may  be  special  use 
for  these  letters  in  their  combined  state,  even  before 
our  age  has  passed  away,  either  in  the  way  of  preven- 
tion or  of  cure ;  and,  especially,  a  desire  to  give  to  all 
our  contemporaries  that  admonitory  counsel  against 
the  genius  of  religious  extravagance,  which  perhaps 
some  of  them  need,  and  which  these  letters  are  deem- 
ed peculiarly  competent  to  afford  :  nor  will  we  con- 
ceal, among  the  motives  that  induce  this  publica- 


Vll 


tion,  a  wi^h  for  the  discrimination  o(  persons  as  con- 
nected v/ith  principles ;  at  least  so  far  as  to  demon- 
strate, on  the  subject  of  rehgious  revivals,  what  are, 
and  what  are  noiy  the  views  of  such  excellent  and  ac- 
credited fathers  in  the  church,  as  those  whose  names 
occur  as  the  writers  of  these  letters — names  that 
will,  v/e  doubt  not,  remain  when  all  combustible  matter 
shall  have  passed  away,  and  be  held  "  in  everlasting 
remembrance."  We  wish  to  have  responsibility  un- 
derstood in  relation  to  its  proper  subjects;  so  that 
if  these  "means  and  measures"  should  still  be  main- 
tained, and  should  finally  succeed,  we  may  know^ 
whom  to  praise,  under  God,  for  the  w^isdom  that  ap- 
plied, and  the  patience  that  sustained,  and  the  cou- 
rage that  defended  them :  and  if  they  fail ;  if  they 
induce  desolation  to  the  churches  ;  if  their  pathway 
shall  hereafter  be  traced  by  the  burning  of  their 
progress ;  if  their  consequences  should  prove  widely 
ruinous,  and  confessedly  wrong  in  the  end ;  if  the 
worst  anticipations  of  these  letters  should  be  at  last 
realized,  or,  possibly,  transcended, — that  it  may  be  at 
least  known,  though  our  heads  should  then  be  low  in 
dust,  and  known  by  witnesses  that  we  furnished,  and 
that  shall  survive  and  faithfully  interpret  us,  that  some 
were  not  their  patrons  ;  and  especially  that  such  names  as 
Nettleton,  and  Beecher,  and  Porter,  to  say  nothing 
of  others,  ivere  not  responsible  for  their  devastation  !  This 
has  been,  especially  with  Mr,  Nettleton,  as  we  have 
understood  and  believed,  one  great  motive  in  all  the 
publications ;  as  we  know  that  his  mind  felt  relief, 
and  his  conscience  enjoyed  the  solace  of  peaceful- 
ness,  when  his  letters  were  first  published  to  the 
world,  from  the  consideration  that  he  had  done  an 
important  duty,— not,  as  we  believe,  without  self-de- 


V]|1 

nial  and  real  diffidence  in  other  respects,  more  than 
would  be  appreciated,  if  declared,  in  the  present 
world.  We  have  no  disposition  to  exalt  the  man, 
though  we  have  yet  to  learn  it  if  there  be  no  differ- 
ence between  flattery  and  praise  ;  or,  if  it  be  wrong 
to  "  receive  him  in  the  Lord  with  all  gladness,  and 
hold  such  in  reputation,  or  even  to  esteem  them  very 
highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake."  Besides,  his 
name  is  now  associated  with  principles  which  are 
endeared  to  a  large  and  enlightened  circle  of  Chris- 
tians. 

For  the  sake  of  religion,  we  think  it  of  great  mo- 
ment that  these  letters  should  be  read  from  the  auto- 
graphs of  their  writers,  or  at  least  from  printed  co- 
pies which  confess  their  names,  and  can  be  subject- 
ed to  their  scrutiny  and  sanction ;  and  especially  that 
candidates  for  the  ministry  should  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  them ;  lest,  on  the  one  hand,  through 
ignorance  or  mistake,  they  become  prejudiced 
against  the  very  name  of  revivals  ;  or,  on  the  other, 
so  wedded  to  incorrect  principles,  and  that  proba- 
bly from  profound  ignorance  of  the  true,  that  their 
future  influence  shall  sweep  us  as  with  the  spirit  of 
the  whirlwind,  or  the  death-blast  of  the  sirocco;  till 
all  that  has  been  dreaded,  as  the  legitimate  result  of 
erroneous  principles,  shall  be  visited  upon  the  ruined 
churches  of  our  land  :  an  evil  not  to  be  borne  by  our 
children,  and  which  ought  to  be  foreseen,  and,  if 
possible,  prevented,  by  the  wisdom,  the  firmness,  and 
the  prayerfulness  of  their  fathers. 


Copy  of  a  httttr  to  the  Rev.  Mr,  Aikm\  of  Utica, 


Albany,  Jan.  13, 1827. 

My  DEAit  BROTHER — Would  that  I  had  time  and  strength^ 
to  give  you  particulars  on  the  state  of  religion  in  this  region 
and  elsewhere.  In  Albany  it  is  interesting.  But  I  have 
great  fears  that  the  disposition  of  some  zealous  Christians 
round  about  us,  to  proclaim  it  abroad,  and  to  run  before  their 
own  hearts  and  the  real  state  of  things,  will  run  it  out  into 
noise.  I  have  already  felt  the  evil.  I  find  that  many  are  dis- 
posed to  make  ten  times  as  much  of  the  same  state  of  things 
as  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  doing,  though  they  know  but 
a  small  part  of  what  I  have  seen  in  this  place.  I  have  met 
a  number  'of  circles  of  different  kinds.  Some  are  rejoic- 
ing in  hope,  and  a  number  anxious  for  their  souls.  Various 
reports  have  gone  out  concerning  a  Revival  in  Albany,  which 
have  done  us  much  mischief.  If  they  would  let  us  alone,  I 
should  expect  a  great  work  in  this  city.  But  among  so  much 
noise  and  bluster  of  Christians,  it  promises  fair  to  end  in 
smoke.  But  after  all,  the  good  people  here  are  astonished 
at  our  stillness.  My  opinion  is,  that  had  they  been  ten  times 
as  still,  they  would  already  have  witnessed  ten  times  as 
much. 

Seven  years  ago,  about  two  thousand  souls  were  hopefully 
born  into  the  kingdom,  in  this  vicinity,  in  our  own  denomina- 
tion, with  comparative  stillness.  But  the  times  have  altered. 
The  kingdom  of  God  now  cometh  with  great  observation. 
Opposition  from  the  world  is  always  to  be  expected.  It  is 
idle  for  any  minister  to  expect  a  Revival  without  it.  But 
when  it  enters  the  church  of  God,  the  friends  of  Zion,  cannot 
but  take  the  alarm. 

There  is  doubtless  a  work  of  grace  in  Troy.  Many  sin- 
ners have  hopefully  been  born  into  the  kingdom  ;  but  it  has 
been  at  an  awful  expense.  Many  of  our  first  ministers  have 
visited  the  place,  to  ^vitness  for  themselves.  Such  men  as 
Dr.  Griffin,  Dr.  Porter  of  Catskill,  Dr.  Nott,  Mr.  Tucker, 
Mr.  Cornelius,  and  many  more.  Some  of  them  have  heard 
a  number  of  sermons.  After  giving  credit  for  preaching 
much  truth,  they  uniformly  say,  "  I  never  heard  the  names  of 
God  used  with  such  irreverence."  Dr.  Griffin  gave  me  a 
number  of  specimens.     I  do  not  wish  to  retail  them.     The 

2 


10 

church  in  Troy  is  greatly  divided.  Some  have  taken  a  dis- 
mission ;  others  are  consulting  neighbouring  ministers  about 
the  path  of  duty  ;  and  others  are  beginning  to  attend  v\^orship 
by  themselves. 

But  the  worst  is  not  told.  The  spirit  of  denunciation 
which  has  grown  out  of  the  mode  of  conducting  the  revivals 
at  the  West,  is  truly  alarming.  We  do  not  call  in  question 
the  genuineness  of  that  revival,  or  the  purity  of  the  motives 
of  those  who  have  been  the  most  active  in  it.  You,  doubt- 
less, are  reaping  and  rejoicing  in  their  happy  fruits.  But  the 
evils  to  which  I  allude,  are  felt  by  the  churches  abroad; 
members  of  which  have  gone  out  to  catch  the  spirit,  and  have 
returned,  some  grieved,  others  soured,  and  denouncing 
ministers,  colleges.  Theological  Seminaries,  and  have  set 
whole  churches  by  the  ears,  and  kept  them  in  turmoil  for 
months  together.  Some  students  in  divinity  have  done  more 
mischief  in  this  way  than  they  can  ever  repair.  I  could  men- 
tion names,  but  for  exposing  them.  Some  ministers  and  pro- 
fessors of  religion  have  been  to  Troy,  from  the  surrounding- 
region,  on  purpose  to  catch  the  flame,  and  have  returned 
home,  saying,  "  We  do  not  want  such  a  revival  as  they  have 
in  Troy." 

I  went  down  to  H a  short  time  since,  and  spent  a 

Sabbath,  and  there  met  seven  or  eight  ministers  from  vari- 
ous parts  ;  and  you  would  be  perfectly  astonished  to  hear 
them  tell  the  troubles  which  have  been  introduced  into  their 

churches  from  the  western  revivals.      The  church  in  H 

has  been  in  a  complete  turmoil  all  summer  long,  occasioned 
by  a  student  in  divinity,  who  had  heard  Mr.  Finney.*  He 
commenced  operations  to  have  a  revival  on  the  new  plan. 
He  found  fault  with  every  thing  the  settled  minister  was  doing, 
and  raised  an  angry  dispute  about  females  praying  in  pro- 
miscuous assemblies.  He  went  about  trying  to  raise  a  party 
to  "  break  down  the  Pastor,"  as  he  called  it.  I  cannot  be 
particular — only,  before  he  came  to  the  place,  there  was 
some  attention,  and  a  few  conversions.  But  a  desperate 
attempt  to  introduce  the  practice  of  females  praying  with 
males,  raised  an  angry  dispute  which  lasted  all  summer. 
And  they  had  a  revival  of  anger  in  the  church,  but  no  more 
conversions.  Tliis  account  I  had  from  the  lips  of  the  minis- 
ter of  the  place,  his  wife,  and  session.  That  you  may  un- 
derstand my  meaning,  I  have  given  this  only  as  a  specimen. 


•■•''  Ho  had  been  in  the  western  revivals  and  adopted  the  new  measures, 
y-we  say  that  he  had  not  then  heard  Mr.  F.  Of  this  circumstance  I  was 
nut  infurmednutil  after  this  letter  was  wrilUn, 


11 

The  evil  is  running  in  all  directions.  A  number  of 
churches  have  experienced  a  revival  of  anger,  wrath,  malice, 
envy,  and  evil-speaking,  without  the  knowledge  of  a  single 
conversion, — merely  in  consequence  of  a  desperate  attempt 
to  introduce  these  new  measures.  Those  ministers  and 
Christians  who  have  heretofore  been  most  and  longest  ac- 
quainted with  revivals,  are  most  alarmed  at  the  spirit  which 
has  grown  out  of  the  revivals  of  the  West.  This  spirit  has, 
no  doubt,  greatly  deteriorated  by  transportation.  As  we  now 
have  it,  the  great  contest  is  among  professors  of  religion — 
a  civil  war  in  Zion — a  domestic  broil  in  the  household  of  faith» 
The  friends  of  Brother  Finney  are  certainly  doing  him  and 
the  cause  of  Christ  great  mischief.  They  seem  more  anxious 
to  convert  ministers  and  Christians  to  their  peculiarities,  than 
to  convert  souls  to  Christ. 

It  is  just  such  a  contest  as  I  have  sometimes  seen,  in  its  in- 
cipient stages,  in  New-England,  between  some  young  revival 
ministers  on  the  one  side,  and  whole  associations  of  minis- 
ters on  the  other.  The  young  revival  ministers,  wishing  to 
extend  the  work  into  all  the  churches,  in  their  zeal  would 
enter  the  limits  of  settled  Pastors  and  commence  their  ope- 
rations, and  plead  my  own  example  for  all  their  movements  ; 
and  so  the  war  would  begin.  And  all  those  ministers  who 
would  not  yield  the  reins  and  sanction  their  imprudences, 
would  be  sure  to  be  proclaimed  as  enemies  to  revivals. 
Being  thus  defeated,  these  young  ministers  would  come  to 
me  to  make  their  complaints,  and  to  work  on  my  mind  the 
conviction  that  all  those  ministers  were  enemies  to  myself; 
whereas  the  whole  evil  lay  in  a  violation  of  all  the  rules  of 
ministerial  order  and  Christian  meekness,  or  in  the  inexpe- 
rience, ignorance,  and  imprudence  of  these  young  ministers. 
I  am  sorry  to  speak  thus  of  my  best  friends ;  but  it  is  due  to 
my  brethren  to  say,  that  those  very  ministers,  who  had  been 
thus  slandered  by  my  young  brethren,  have  since  come  to  me 
with  tears,  urging  me  to  visit  their  flocks.  There  is  not  one 
of  them  but  would  bid  me  a  welcome,  and  would  rejoice  in 
a  revival ;  but  they  would  not  invite  these  young  ministers  to 
preach  for  them  who  had  been  so  rash  in  their  proceedings, 
and  guilty  of  slandering  them  as  stupid,  and  dead,  and  ene- 
mies of  revivals.  In  this  manner  some  of  the  most  promis- 
ing young  revival  ministers  have  run  themselves  out,  and  lost 
the  confidence  of  settled  Pastors  and  Christians  in  general. 

The  spirit  of  denunciation  which  has  grown  out  of  these 
Western  revivals,  seems  to  be  owing  to  the  implicit  confi- 
dence which  has  been  placed  in  the  proceedings  of  just  such 
young  ministers  as  leaders.  They  dared  not  attempt  to  cor- 
rect any  of  their  irregularities,  for  fear  of  doing  mischief,  or 


9f  being  denounced  as  enemies  to  revivalg.  This  I  know  to 
be  the  SlcU  Brother  Finney  himself  has  been  scarcely  three 
years  in  the  ministry,  and  has  had  no  time  to  look  at  conse- 
quences. He  has  gone,  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  young  convert, 
without  a  friend  to  check  or  guide  him.  And  I  have  no  doubt 
that  he  begins  with  astonishment  to  look  at  the  evils  which 
are  running  before  him. 

The  account  which  his  particular  friends  give  of  his 
proceedings,  is,  in  substance,  as  follows  :  He  has  got  mi- 
nisters to  agree  with  him  only  by  "  crushing,''  or  "  break- 
ing them  down."*  The  method  by  which  he  does  it, 
is  by  creating  a  necessity,  by  getting  a  few  individuals  in 
a  church  to  join  him,  and  then  all  those  who  will  not  go 
all  lengths  with  him  are  denounced  as  enemies  to  revivals ; 
and  rather  than  have  such  a  bad  name,  one  and  another  falls 
in  to  defend  him  :  and  then  they  proclaim  what  ministers, 
elders,  and  men  of  influence,  have  been  "  crushed"  or 
"  broken  down."  This  moral  influence  being  increased, 
others  are  denounced,  in  a  similar  manner,  as  standing  out, 
and  leading  sinners  to  hell.  And  to  get  rid  of  the  noise,  and 
save  himself,  another  will  "  break  down."  And  so  they  wax 
liotter  and  hotter,  until  the  church  is  fairly  split  in  twain. 
And  now,  as  for  those  elders  and  Christians,  who  have  thus 
been  converted  to  these  measures  ;  some  of  them  are  send- 
ing out  private  word  to  their  Christian  friends  abroad,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  I  have  been  fairly  skinned  by  the  denunciations  of 
these  men,  and  have  ceased  to  oppose  them,  to  get  rid  of 
their  noise.  But  I  warn  you  not  to  introduce  this  spirit  into 
your  church  and  society."  And  so.  Brother  Finney's  sup- 
posed friends,  men  of  influence,  are  sending  out  word  to  warn 
others  to  beware  of  the  evils  which  they  have  experienced. 
I  heartily  pity  Brother  Finney,  for  I  believe  him  to  be  a  good 
man,  and  wishing  to  do  good.  But  nobody  dares  tell  him 
that  a  train  of  causes  is  set  in  operation,  and  urged  on  by  his. 
own  friendsj  which  is  likely  to  ruin  his  usefulness. 

I  have  become  acquainted  with  some  of  the  young  preach- 
ers who  profess  to  have  taken  their  stamp  from  Brother  Fin- 
ney. I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  much  in  them  of  the 
original.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  the  spirit  which  they  mani- 
fest, and  unwittingly  diffuse,  appears  to  me  to  resemble  any 
thir\g  rather  than  the  "  wisdom  which  is  from  above,"  or  the 


^  The  phrases,  "  blistered,"  and  "  skinned,'*  and  "  broken  down,"  and 
*'  <?r«shed"  were  coined  and  are  current  only  amongf  the  friends  of  the  new 
iW^^ures.  This  language  I  took  from  their  own  lips,  and  was  careful  to 
give  credit  by  inverted  commas.  And  yet  when  the  above  was  read  in  the 
Oneida  Presbytery,  t,he  language  sounded  so.  harsh  when  used  by  others, 
that  one  of  these  very  men  Femarked  that  "  the  man  who  wrote  it  wa»  in- 
stigated by  the  devil." 


13 

**  fruits  pf  the  Spirit."  The  minister  who  should  exhort 
Christians  in  the  following  strain,  "  Put  on,  therefore,  as  the 
elect  ot  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bowels  of  mercies,  kindness, 
humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering,  forbearing  one 
another,  and  forgiving  one  another,"  I  fear  would  be  de- 
nounced as  being  far,  "  very  far,  behind  the  spirit  of  tho 
times."  They  do  cultivate,  and  awaken  in  others,  what  very 
much  resembles  the  passion  of  anger,  wrath,  malice,  envy, 
and  evil  speaking.  This  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
their  style  of  preaching.  As  Dr.  Griffin  observed,  "  It  sounds 
like  the  accredited  language  of  profanity,"  or  as  a  pious  wo- 
man of  colour  in  Troy  expressed  it,  "  I  do  wonder  what  haa 
got  into  all  the  ministers  to  swear  so  in  the  pulpit." 

There  is  not  a  minister  of  my  acquaintance,  who  has  visit- 
ed Troy,  and  heard  a  number  of  sermons,  but  is  alarmed  on 
this  subject.  I  have  noticed,  that  the  most  pious  and  de- 
voted Christians,  from  the  revivals  where  I  have  been,  are  the 
last  to  fellowship  these  men  and  their  measures :  and  that 
those  professors,  whose  piety  has  heretofore  been  considered 
the  most  superficial  or  doubtful,  are  the  first  to  fall  in  with 
both.*  I  except  a  few  pious  persons,  who  have  never  wit- 
nessed a  revival  in  any  form,  and  are  anxious  for  one.  And 
the  reason  to  my  mind  is  perfectly  obvious :  it  requires  no- 
thing but  zeal  without  knowledge. 

Whoever  has  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  state  of 
things  in  New-England,  near  the  close  of  the  revival  in  the 
days  of  Whitfield  and  Edwards,  cannot  but  weep  over  its 
likeness  to  the  present.  It  is  affecting  that  the  warm  friends 
of  Zion  should  unwittingly  betray  her  best  interests.  But  so 
was  it  then.  The  young  itinerants,  in  their  zeal  to  extend 
the  work,  began  to  denounce  all  those  settled  ministers  who 
would  not  go  all  lengths  with  them.  And  then  those  mem- 
bers of  churches  who  loved  their  pastors  would  assemble 
around  to  defend  them  ;  while  those  who  favoured  the  itine- 
rants assembled  around  them,  and  imbibing  their  spirit,  of 
course  lost  all  confidence  in  a  settled  ministry :  And  so  the 
churches  were  split  in  twain.  The  spirit  of  God  took  its 
flight,  and  darkness  and  discord  reigned  for  half  a  century. 
And  those  preachers  who  had  taken  the  lead,  having  cultiva- 
ted such  a  spirit,  began  to  fall  into  awful  darkness  them- 
selves, when  they  saw  the  ruin  that  followed  their  labours. 
Some  of  them  made  and  published  their  recantations  to  the 
world,  which  are  now  extant.     But  it  was  too  late.     A  retri- 


*  This  fact,  so  novel  and  mysterious  to  many,  is  easily  explained.     It  is 
a  practical  comment  on  the  principle  advocated  in  Mr.  Finney's  printed 


11 

bution  followed.  Some  few  of  the  young  converts  were  call- 
ed to  order  by  David  Brainard,  who  passed  through  Connec- 
ticut at  that  time.  But  after  their  recantations  these  leaders 
were  generally  denounced  by  their  own  followers.  Could 
Whitfield,  and  Edwards,  and  Brainard,  and  Davenport,  now 
arise  from  the  dead,  I  have  no  doubt  they  would  exclaim, 
"  young  men,  beware  !    beware  !" 

In  the  remarks  which  I  have  made,  you  will  understand  me. 
I  separate  between  the  efficacy  of  the  measures  adopted  in  the 
Western  revivals,  and  the  evils  which  have  grown  out  of 
those  measures.  Of  the  former,  I  have  no  doubt.*  But  the 
latter  are  certainly  calamitous,  beyond  any  thing  I  ever  wit- 
nessed. Some  of  the  subjects  of  these  revivals,  and  others 
who  have  been  present  in  them,  are  scattered  over  the  coun- 
try far  from  those  scenes  of  operation.  The  tidings  of  the 
means  used  are  told  by  those  who  have  never  witnessed  a  re- 
vival in  any  other  form.  Now,  these  means  are  very  simple, 
and  just  such  as  every  body  can  use,  male  and  female.  Who 
cannot  call  his  minister  stupid  and  dead,  and  pray  for  him  by 
name  as  such  ?  And  if  he  gets  mad,  and  all  the  church  too, 
no  matter  for  that ;  "  the  more  opposition  the  better."  This 
is  certaianly  the  way  to  have  a  revival ;  for  it  is  Mr.  Finney's 
method :  And  he  has  the  sanction  of  such  men  as  Mr.  Lan- 
sing and  Aikin,  and  others.  They  did  not  believe  in  such 
measures  at  first ;  but  they  have  been  broken  down. 

In  this  way  some  of  our  best  ministers  are  slandered,  the 
churches  divided,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  regular  services  of 
the  settled  ministry  destroyed.  Overlooking  the  fact  that 
the  very  means  employed  with  wonderful  success  in  the  midst 
of  a  powerful  revival  are  generally  the  very  worst  when  car- 
ried out  of  the  field  of  such  an  excitement.  Some  students 
in  divinity,  and  others,  in  their  attempts  to  imitate  Brother 
Finney,  have  reminded  us  of  the  conduct  and  success  of  the 
seven  sons  of  Sceva,  who  undertook  to  imitate  Paul,  in 
Acts  xix. 

The  practice  of  females  praying  in  promiscuous  assem- 
blies is  considered  as  absolutely  indispensable,  so  that  no- 
thing can  possibly  be  done  without  it.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  some  young  men  have  been  considered  as  acting  "  amo- 
rously foolish"  on  this  subject.  The  practice  itself  is  very 
taking  with  some  real  Christians,  no  doubt ;   but  still  more 


*  These  revivals  would  doubtless  have  been  equal,  or  even  far  greater, 
without  the  new  measures.  This  I  know  to  be  the  opinion  of  those  minis- 
ters at  the  West,  whose  age  and  experience  ought  to  qualify  thera  to  be 
the  most  competent  judges.  An  attempt  to  introduce  these  measures  in 
many  places,  has  manifestly  been  followed  with  a  blight. 


15 

so  with  the  hypocritical  and  disorganizing  part  of  society. 
Ministers  have  been  told  by  such  persons  that  they  were  too 
proud  to  permit  females  to  pray  before  them ;    that  they 
never  could  have  a  revival  until  they  were  willing  to  come 
down  to  that  practice.     Some  of  my  brethren  have  been  ab- 
solutely insulted  by  females  on  this  subject.     Thus  many 
ministers  and  churches  are  tormented,  and  the  spirit  of  a  re- 
vival utterly  destroyed  in  some  places,  and  prevented  in 
others.     If  our  brethren  at  the  West  knew  the  evils  that  are 
felt  by  settled  ministers  abroad,  1  know  they  could  not  but 
weep  over  them.      In  the  language  of  Dr.  Griffin,  "  It  is  com- 
plete radicalism,''''     The  means  which  it  is  said  have  been  so 
successful  at  the  West,  have  been  so  caricatured  by  the  igno- 
bile  vulgus  in  religion,  running  before  Brother  Finney  into 
every  city  and  town,  far  and  near,  that  I  am  sure  he  must 
labour  under  prodigious  disadvantage  in  all  these  places, 
without  shifting  the  entire  mode  of  his  attack.     The  con- 
sciences of  the  wicked  have  become  more  callous  than  ever. 
Their  language  is,  "  I  want  no  such  religion."     The  hearts 
of  our  best  ministers,  and  Christians  generally,  are  grieved 
and  exceedingly  alarmed  on  this  subject.     It  is  owing  entire- 
ly to  the  disorganizing  spirit  which  has  already  been  intro- 
duced into  their  churches,  that  ministers,  in  general,  so  far 
as  I  am  acquainted,  are  afraid  to  invite  Brother  Finney,  or 
any  who  adopt  his  peculiarities,  to  preach  for  them.     Some 
of  Brother  Finney's  younger  brethren  and  friends  may  at- 
tempt to  work  on  his  mind  the  conviction  that  most  of  our 
ministers  and  churches  are  enemies  to  revivals,  and  unfriend- 
ly to  himself     I  feel  it  my  duty  to  speak  in  their  behalf.     I 
know  it  to  be  a  mistake.     The  best  friends  of  revivals,  as 
they  have  heretofore  witnessed  them,  are  certainly  the  most 
afraid  to  invite  him  into  their  churches,  and  are  the  most 
alarmed  at  the  evils  that  are  rising.      And,  I  must  say,  that 
his  friends  are  certainly  labouring  to  introduce  those  very 
measures,  which  I  have  ever  regarded  as  ultimately  working 
ruin  to  our  churches ;    and  against  which  I  have  always 
guarded  as  ruinous  to  the  character  of  revivals,  as  well  as  to 
my  own  usefulness. 

For  example  :  whoever  introduces  the  practice  of  females 
praying  in  promiscuous  assemblies,  let  the  practice  once  be- 
come general,  will  ere  long  find,  to  his  sorrow,  that  he  has 
made  an  inlet  to  other  denominations,  and  entailed  an  ever- 
lasting quarrel  on  those  churches  generally.  If  settled  pas- 
tors choose  to  do  it,  on  their  own  responsibility,  so  be  it. 
For  one,  I  dare  not  assume  so  great  a  responsibihty.  In  this 
way  churches  were  once  laid  waste.  And  it  is  by  keeping 
out,  and  carefully  avoiding  every  thing  of  this  kind,  that  some 


16 

of  them  have  again  been  built,  others  kept  orderly,  and  the 
character  of  revivals,  for  thirti/  years  past,  has  been  guarded. 
If  the  evil  be  not  soon  prevented,  a  generation  will  arise  in- 
heriting all  the  obliquities  of  their  leaders,  not  knowing  that 
a  revival  ever  did  or  can  exist,  without  all  those  evils.  And 
these  evils  are  destined  to  be  propagated  from  generation  to 
generation,  waxing  worse  and  worse. 

The  friends  of  Brother  Finney  are  afraid  to  interfere  to 
correct  any  thing,  lest  they  should  do  mischief,  or  be  de- 
nounced as  enemies  of  revivals.     "Brother  Nettleton,  do 
come  into  this  region  xnd  help  us  ;   for  many  things  are  be- 
coming  current  among  us  ;vhich  I  cannot  approve.     And  I 
can  do  nothing  to  correct  them,  but  I  am  immediately  shamed 
out  of  it,  by  being  denounced  as  an  enemy  to  revivals." — 
Thus  my  ministerial  brethren  from  the  West,  whose  views 
accord  with  my  own,  have  been  calling  to  me,  in  their  letters 
during  the  summer  past.     "There  is  religion  in  it,  and  I 
dare  not  touch  it.     I  see  the  evil,  and  tremble  at  the  conse- 
quences ;   but  what  can  I  do  V     This  is  the  language  of 
many  of  his  warmest  friends.     And  so  the  bad  must  all  be 
defended  with  the  good.     This  sentiment  adopted,  will  cer- 
tainly ruin  revivals.      It  is  the  language  of  a  novice  :    It  is 
just  as  the  devil  would  have  it.     If  the  friends  of  revivals  dare 
not  correct  their  own  faults,  who  will  do  it  for  them  ?     I 
know  no  such  policy.     I  would  no  more  dare  defend  in  the 
gross,  than  condemn  in  the  gross.     And  those  who  adopt  the 
former  practice,  will  soon  be  compelled  by  prevailing  cor- 
ruptions to  take  along  with  it  the  latter.     The  character  of 
revivals  is  to  be  sustained  on  the  same  principles  as  that  of 
churches,  or  individual  Christians.      If  we  would  judge  our- 
selves, we  shoidd  not  be  judged.     It  is  not  by  covering,  but 
by  confessing  and  forsaking,  that  pure  revivals  are  to  pros- 
per.    In  this  manner  their  character  has  long  been  sustained. 
Things  have  not  been  left  to  run  to  such  lengths  in  our  day. 
A  strong  hand  has  been  laid  on  young  converts,  old  profes- 
sors, and  especially  on  zealous  young  ministers,  as  many  of 
them  now  living  can  testify.     I  have  been  afraid  to  kindle 
fires  where  there  was  not  some  spiritual  watchman  near,  to 
guard  and  watch  against  wildness,  for  which  I  might  become 
responsible.     Some  students  in  divinity  have  caught  and  car- 
ried the  flame  into  neighbouring  towns  and  villages,  and  no 
doubt  have  been  the  means  of  the  salvation  of  some  souls. 
But  1  am  sorry  to  say,  that  some  of  them  have  run  before  me 
into  the  most  populous  places,  and  have  carried  their  mea- 
sures so  far,  and  have  become  so  dictatorial  and  assuming, 
that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  most  judicious  and  influential  mi- 
nisters of  my  acquaintance,  they  have  done  far  more  mis- 


17 

chief  than  good.  They  have  pleaded  my  example  for  many 
measures,  which,  as  to  time  and  circumstances,  I  utterly  con- 
demn. Some  of  the  means  which  I  have  never  dared  to 
employ  except  in  the  most  interesting  crisis  of  a  powerful  re- 
vival, they  have  caricatured  in  such  a  manner,  and  raised 
such  prejudices  against  myself  among  strangers,  that  they 
have  caused  me  much  trouble.  My  plans  have  been  laid  to 
visit  many  towns  and  cities,  and  have  been  wholly  defeated 
by  these  students  in  divinity  thus  running  before  me.  I  have 
been  much  grieved,  and  exceedingly  perplexed  on  this  sub- 
ject. They  assume  an  authority,  unwittingly  I  allow,  and 
adopt  measures,  which  no  ordained  minister  could  do,  with- 
out ruining  his  usefulness.  Evils  arising  hence  have  uniform- 
ly been  arrested  in  their  progress,  by  my  taking  the  part  of 
settled  Pastors  among  their  flocks :  at  a  great  expense  of 
feeling,  on  the  part  of  my  young  friends,  no  doubt ;  but  the 
cause  of  revivals  evidently  required  it.* 

I  have  been  anxiously  looking  and  waiting,  all  summer 
long,  for  such  men  as  yourself  and  Mr.  Lansing,  and  others 
most  intimately  acquainted  with  Brother  Finney,  to  take 
hold,  with  a  kind  severity,  and  restore  order ;  but  in  vain.  It 
is  not  expected  that  a  powerful  revival  can  exist  among  im- 
perfect beings  without  more  or  less  irregularity  and  opposi- 
tion ;  but  it  is  expected  that  these  things  will  generally  sub- 
side, and  leave  the  churches  in  a  more  peaceful,  happy,  and 
flourishing  state  than  ever.  This  has  uniformly  been  the 
case,  where  revivals  have  prevailed.  But  irregularities  are 
prevailing  so  fast,  and  assuming  such  a  character,  in  our 
churches,  as  infinitely  to  overbalance  the  good  that  is  left. 
These  evils,  sooner  or  later,  must  be  corrected.  Somebody 
must  speak,  or  silence  will  prove  our  ruin.  Fire  is  an  excel- 
lent thing  in  its  place,  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  see  it  blaze 
among  briers  and  thorns  ;  but  when  1  see  it  kindling  where 
it  will  ruin  fences,  and  gardens,  and  houses,  and  burn  up  my 
friends,  I  cannot  be  silent. 

Had  the  evil  been  checked  in  the  commencement,  it  would 


*  There  is  a  large  class  of  ignorant  well  meaning  people,  who  in  a  revi- 
val become  officious,  and  sometimes  exceedingly  troublesome  to  settled 
Pastors.  And  no  evangelist  can  shake  them  off  without  offending  them. 
And  if  he  does  not  shake  them  off,  lie  will  shake  off  minsiters  for  a  while— 
and  then  they  will  shake  him  off.  These  tilings  were  named,  not  as  ground 
of  complaint,  but  only  as  a  clue  to  correct  greater  evils,  such  as  owe  their 
origin  entirely  to  a  desperate  attempt  to  introduce  the  new  measures. 
Some  ministers  at  the  West,  however,  instead  of  taking  the  hint  to  cor- 
rect, have  taken  it  only  as  a  cover  to  their  own  incorrigible  offspring,  in- 
somuch that  ours  too  arc  running  to  them  for  protection.  It  is  certainly  a 
good  riddance  to  us. 

3 


18 

have  been  an  act  of  kindness  to  Brother  Finney,  and 
great  gain  to  the  cause  of  revivals.  He  would  have  found 
ministers  every  where  bidding  him  welcome.  His  help  is 
every  v/here  greatly  needed.  For  a  settled  Pastor,  the  entire 
confidence  of  other  ministers  would  not  be  so  important. 
But,  whoever  undertakes  to  promote  revivals,  by  running 
through  the  world,  in  this  age  of  revivals,  must  have  the  en- 
tire confidence  of  settled  ministers  generally  ;  otherwise  he 
will  unsettle  ministers,  and  desolate  churches,  wherever  he 
goes.  Without  their  hearty  co-operation,  he  will  certainly 
labour  at  great  disadvantage  :  as  if  a  mariner,  steering  his- 
ship  in  a  storm  at  sea,  in  his  zeal  should  quit  the  helm,  and 
ply  his  strength  at  the  mast. 

The  practice  of  praying  for  people  by  name,  in  the  closet, 
and  the  social  circle,  has  no  doubt  had  a  beneficial  effect. 
But,  as  it  now  exists  in  many  places,  it  has  become,  in  the 
eye  of  the  Christian  community  at  large,  an  engine  of  public 
slander  in  its  worst  form.  I  should  not  dare,  in  this  solemn 
manner,  to  arraign  a  fellow-sinner  before  a  public  assembly, 
without  his  own  particular  request,  unless  my  expressions 
were  of  the  most  conciliatory  kind.  And  no  Christian  minis- 
ter, whatever  his  character  may  be,  can  adopt  the  practice 
without  awakening  the  indignation  of  the  world  at  large,  and 
of  Christians  generally,  against  him.  Much  less  can  it  be 
done  by  any  body,  and  every  body,  who  takes  it  into  his  head 
positively  to  decide  the  question,  and  to  tell  God  and  the 
world,  that  such  and  such  persons  are  unconverted.  I  do  not 
believe,  whatever  may  be  the  effect  upon  the  individual  thus 
named, that  God  will  regard  such  a  prayer  in  any  other  light 
than  as  that  of  a  proud,  self-righteous  Pharisee. 

There  is  another  interesting  topic  that  lies  near  my  heart ; 
but  the  time  would  fail  me  to  express  my  views  and  feelings 
on  the  subject.  That  holy,  humble,  meek,  modest,  retiring 
Form,  sometimes  called  the  Spirit  of  Prayer,  and  which  I 
have  ever  regarded  as  the  unfailing  precursor  of  a  revival  of 
religion,  has  been  dragged  from  her  closet,  and  so  rudely 
handled  by  some  of  her  professed  friends,  that  she  has  not 
only  lost  all  her  wonted  loveliness,  but  is  now  stalkiiig  the 
streets  in  some  places  stark  mad. 

Some,  in  their  zeal  on  the  subject  of  the  prayer  of  faith^ 
are  tormenting  others  with  their  peculiar  sentiments,  which, 
if  correct,  every  body  sees  must  equally  condemn  them- 
selves ;  thus  rendering  themselves  and  their  sentiments  per- 
fectly ridiculous. 

I  have  given  you  but  an  imperfect  sketch  of  my  own  and 
the  views  of  our  brethren  abroad  on  this  subject ;  but  I  as- 
sure you,  as  a  whole,  it  is  not  overdrawn.     How  to  correct 


19 

these  growing  evils,  I  cannot  tell.  Our  brethren,  far  and 
near,  some  of  Brother  Finney's  best  friends  at  the  West  not 
excepted,  by  letter  and  otherwise,  have  long  bceii  urging  me 
to  lay  the  subject  fully  before  him.  The  evils  which  have  ex- 
isted abroad  have  certainly  been  very  much  concealed  from 
him  and  his  friends.  It  is  certainly  right  that  he  should  know 
something  of  the  evils  which  have  run  from  under  him;  and 
the  feelings  of  the  friends  of  Zion  at  large.  I  have  nothing 
to  say  to  him  in  the  style  of  crimination  or  controversy.  I 
have  been  too  long  on  the  field  of  battle  to  be  frightened 
about  little  things,  or  to  make  a  man  an  offender  for  a  word. 
For  Zion's  sake,  I  wish  to  save  Brother  Finney  from  a  course 
which  I  am  confident  will  greatly  retard  his  usefulness  before 
he  knows  it.  It  is  no  reflection  on  his  talents  or  piety,  that, 
in  his  zeal  to  save  souls,  he  should  adopt  every  measure 
which  promises  present  success,  regardless  of  consequences  ; 
nor,  after  a  fair  experiment  in  so  noble  a  cause,  to  say,  I  have 
pushed  some  things  beyond  what  they  will  bear.  The  most 
useful  lessons  are  learned  by  experience. 

I  wish  I  had  health  and  strength  to  show  Brother  Finney 
my  whole  heart  on  this  subject,  I  have  long  been  wishing  to 
correct  some  of  his  pecuharities,  that  I  might  invite  him  into 
my  own  field  and  introduce  him  to  my  friends.  Aside  from 
feeble  health,  one  consideration  only  has  prevented  me  from 
making  the  attempt.  Some  of  his  particular  friends  are  urg- 
ing him  on  to  the  very  things  which  I  wish  him  to  drop.  I 
fear  that  their  flattering  representations  will  overrule  all  that 
I  can  say.  And  having  dropped  these  peculiarities,  his  la- 
bours for  a  while  might  be  less  successful ;  and  then  he  would 
resort  again  to  the  same  experiment.  But  I  can  inform  hini, 
that  the  same  measures  which  he  has  adopted,  have  beeii  vi- 
gorously and  obstinately  pursued  in  New-England,  against 
the  repeated  advice  of  settled  Pastors,  and  that  too,  by  one 
of  the  most  powerful  and  successful  ministers  that  1  have 
ever  known,  until,  confident  of  his  own  strength,  he  quit 
them  all,  with  this  expression,  "We  will  see  who  will  answer 
by  fire" — a  most  unhappy  expression,  as  he  afterwards  told 
me  with  tears.  The  result  was,  he  lost  his  usefulness  in  our 
denomination.  Some  of  his  spiritual  children,  now  excellent 
men  in  the  ministry,  have  never  dared  to  adopt  his  measures, 
but  have  uniformly  opposed  them.  Others,  some  ministers 
and  laymen,  who  followed  him,  became  disorganizers  ;  and 
the  leader  himself  turned  Baptist,  and  soon  after  died. 

There  is  another  method  of  conducting  revivals,  which 
may  avoid  these  difficulties.  Settled  Pastors  occupy  nearly 
the  whole  field  of  operation.  They  have,  and  ought  to  have, 
the  entire  management  in  their  own  congregation.     Fiach 


20 

one  has  a  right  to  pursue  his  own  measures,  within  his  own 
limits ;  and  no  itinerant  has  any  business  to  interfere  or  die- 
tate.  It  will  ever  be  regarded  as  intermeddling  in  other 
men's  matters.  If  they  do  not  choose  to  invite  me  into  their 
field,  my  business  is  meekly  'and  silently  to  retire.  And  I 
have  no  right  to  complain.  But  many  young  men  are  con- 
tinually violating  the  rules  of  ministerial  order  and  Christian 
propriety  in  these  respects.  Impatient  to  see  the  temple  rise, 
they  are  now  doing  that,  which,  it  appears  to  me,  will  tend 
ultimately,  more  than  any  thing  else,  to  defeat  the  end  which 
they  wish  to  accomplish.  They  are  now  pulling  down  in 
many  places,  the  very  things  which  I  have  been  helping  mi- 
nisters to  build  up  ;  and  for  which  I  have  often  received  their 
warmest  thanks.  It  is  a  sentiment  which  I  have  had  fre- 
quent occasion  to  repeat  to  my  young  brethren  in  the  minis- 
try, "  Better  forego  the  prospect  of  much  present  good,  in 
your  own  opinion,  than^  to  lose  the  confidence  of  settled  mi- 
nisters, without  which  you  cannot  be  long  and  extensively 
useful." 

There  is,  certainly,  another  and  a  lawful  point  of  attack  on 
the  kingdom  of  darkness,  which,  when  you  have  taken,  and 
it  is  seen,  possesses  wonderful  advantages.  It  will  give  no 
offence  to  the  church  of  God.  It  will  be  sure  to  rally  around 
you  every  faithful  soldier  of  the  cross.  Though  it  may  seem 
too  slow  and  silent  in  its  operation,  yet,  being  the  lawful  me- 
thod of  conducting  this  warfare,  it  will  secure  the  confidence 
of  ministers  and  Christians,  the  consciences  of  the  wicked, 
and  a  crown  of  glory. 

And  now,  Brother,  I  have  ventured  to  lay  before  you  the 
subject  of  my  prayers  and  tears,  and  I  may  add,  the  subject 
which  brought  me  back  to  a  region  which  I  never  expected 
to  visit  again.  If  you  discover  any  thing  in  this  communica- 
tion unchristian  or  unkind,  you  will  pardon  it.  If,  in  your 
opinion,  it  can  do  no  mischief,  or  will  do  any  possible  good, 
you  are  at  full  hberty  to  show  it  to  Brother  Finney,  or  any  of 
the  friends  of  Zion  whom  it  may  concern.  We  will  lay  the 
subject  at  the  feet  of  our  Divine  Master,  and  there  will  we 
leave  it. 

Yours,  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

ASAHEL  NETTLETON, 


New-York^  December  6, 1827.     The  above  letter  was  writ- 
ten sometime  last  December,  immediately  after  a  second  in- 


21 

terview  with  Mr.  Finney.  From  personal  conversation  with 
himself,  but  more  particularly  with  his  friends,  I  learned  that 
they  had  adopted  and  defended  measures  which  I  have  ever 
regarded  as  exceedingly  calamitous  to  the  cause  of  revivals. 
This  letter  was  written  originally  as  an  expression  of  my 
own  and  the  views  of  my  brethren  generally  on  this  subject, 
without  intending  to  send  it  to  any  one.  As  my  opinion  was 
repeatedly  solicited  on  this  subject  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  F. 
I  thought  it  best  to  give  it  in  writing.  Accordingly  this  let- 
ter was  read  at  different  times  to  not  less  than  twenty  minis- 
ters, and  to  some  who  had  adopted  the  measures  in  question. 
In  this  silent  manner  I  laboured  for  a  number  of  weeks, 
hoping  to  persuade  the  latter  to  drop  them  ;  but  to  my  sur- 
prise, I  found  that  my  own  name  was  continually  employed 
to  give  them  sanction  ;  nor  was  it  in  my  power  to  prevent 
this  perversion,  without  publishing  my  views  to  the  world. 

It  was  concluded  that  the  subject  of  these  new  measures, 
unless  they  were  speedily  corrected,  must  sooner  or  later 
come  before  the  Christian  public  ;  and  as  all  the  ministers 
who  had  kindly  attempted  to  interfere  to  correct  them,  as 
ruinous  to  revivals,  had  so  long  and  so  often  had  their  motives 
impeached  and  misrepresented,  and  been  denounced  as  cold, 
and  stupid,  and  dead,  that  they  had  now  ceased  to  do  it ;  it 
was  also  concluded,  that  by  this  time,  our  Western  brethren 
might  possibly  be  ignorant  of  the  views  and  feehngs  of  the 
Christian  community  on  this  subject.  Their  long  silence 
might  be  misconstrued  into  an  acquiescence  in  those  mea- 
sures. It  was  well  known,  however,  that  New-England  as  a 
body,  and  also  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  a  body,  as  well  as 
the  friends  of  revivals  in  general,  would  not  defend  the  mea- 
sures in  question,  nor  be  responsible  for  any  of  the  evils  which 
they  would  certainly  occasion. 

As  preparatory  to  publishing,  and  to  cut  off  occasion  for  after 
complaints,  it  was  thought  best  that  1  should  delay  no  longer 
sending  a  communication  to  some  one  or  more  of  our  bre- 
thren in  the  Oneida  Presbytery.  The  above  "  document"  is 
one,  and  only  a  small  part  of  what  I  have  wTittcn  to  the  mem- 
bers of  that  body.  What  I  have  done  in  laying  the  subject 
before  them,  was  not  done  without  the  knowledge  and  ap- 
probation of  the  W^atchmen  of  Israel — the  long — the  tried — 
the  acknowledged  friends  of  Zion. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked,  "  Why  did  not  Mr.  N. 
tell  Mr.  F.  his  views  before  he  published  them  to  the  world  ?" 
I  have  done  it  in  as  gentle  a  manner  on  paper  as  I  knew  how 
to  do  it.  And  I  leave  it  to  all  the  friends  of  Zion  whether  I 
could  have  chosen  a  better  method. 

The  report  is  in  extensive  circulation,  that  "  Mr.  F.  had 


22 

long  been  wising  to  see  Mr.  N.,  and  that  he  was  willing  to  sit 
at  his  feet  and  learn." — This  honour,  of  which  I  am  unwor- 
thy, I  would  have  gladly  dechned,  had  it  been  in  my  power. 
If,  however,  his  "  wishing  to  sit  at  my  feet  and  learn,"  was 
not  an  after-device  to  justify  himself  in  correcting  nothing,  he 
will  not  say  that  I  have  not  taken  some  care  and  pains  to  in- 
struct him.  One  lesson  which  was  given  him  is  the  above 
letter,  which,  having  been  sent  to  Utica,  was  duly  received, 
and  laid  before  him  and  a  number  of  his  friends.  The  pupil 
who  should  tell  "  how  willing  he  was  to  learn,"  and  complain 
to  his  neighbours  that  his  teacher  would  not  instruct  him, 
would  excite  httle  sympathy  with  the  public,  if  it  were  known 
that  he  was  at  the  same  time  carrying  his  lesson  in  his 
pocket. 

After  consultation,  some  advised  to  conceal  it.  But  this 
could  not  be  done.  And  now  in  January,  for  the  first  time, 
Mr.  F.  preached  his  Sermon  in  Utica,  from  these  words, 
"  How  can  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ?" 

It  was  afterwards  preached  in  Troy.  Some  who  have 
talked  and  written  so  knowingly  on  the  Sermon,  as  though 
Troy  were  its  birth-place,  need  to  be  informed  that  they  have 
travelled  out  of  the  "record."  I  do  not  state  this  because  I 
have  adopted  their  opinion  that  the  contents  of  a  Sermon 
professedly  on  the  subject  of  vital  piety,  cannot  be  well  un- 
derstood without  a  knowledge  of  its  origin. 

But  some  who  were  present  and  heard  the  Sermon  in 
Utica,  were  simple  enough  to  consider  it  as  a  personal  attack 
upon  the  author  of  this  letter.  I  was  immediately  informed 
by  persons  who  were  present  and  heard  both  the  letter  and 
the  Sermon,  that  probably  nothing  would  be  corrected — and 
that  arrangements  would  be  made  accordingly. 

"  Though  Mr.  F.  "  blazed"  and  "  burned"  in  his  Sermon, 
as  I  was  informed,  yet  1  did  not  feel  at  all  "  offended." 

But  soon  the  mournful  tidings  reached  my  ears,  "  Mr.  Net- 
tleton  has  lost  his  mind" — "  He  is  not  the  man  he  once  was" 
— "  His  character  has  sunk  wonderfully" — "  The  lies  came 
from  hell,  and  the  smoke  from  the  bottomless  pit."  How 
these  reports  were  set  in  circulation,  I  did  not  take  the  trou- 
ble to  ask.  I  can  still  repeat  the  language  of  my  letter,  '  I 
have  been  too  long  on  the  field  of  battle  to  be  frightened  with 
little  things,  or  to  make  a  man  an  offender  for  a  word.  For 
Zion's  sake  I  wish  to  save  Brother  F.  from  a  course  which  I 
am  confident  will  greatly  retard  his  usefulness  before  he 
knows  it." 

Had  the  friends  of  the  new  measures  been  kind  enough  to 
inform  us  of  their  determination  not  to  renounce  them,  it 
might  have  saved  their  brethren  much  painful  anxiety  and 


1>3 

many  fruitless  exertions.  But  let  them  no  longer  use  the 
names  of  their  brethren  to  sanction  measures  which  they 
have  always  utterly  condemned.  They  have  full  liberty  to 
introduce  them  in  their  own  names  and  on  their  own  respon- 
sibility. 

For  one  I  feel  bound  by  all  the  solemnity  attached  to  the 
ministerial  office,  to  declare  to  the  Watchmen  of  Israel  my 
views  of  the  danger  of  these  measures,  and  in  this  public  and 
decided  manner  to  clear  my  conscience  from  lending  my 
name  to  sanction  their  past,  their  present,  or  their  future  ca- 
lamitous consequences.  And  the  friends  of  these  new  mea- 
sures are  invited  and  earnestly  solicited  to  come  out  with 
their  names  and  their  defence  in  this  same  public  and  decided 
manner. 

I  had  long  since  a  copy  of  this  letter  corrected  for  the 
press.  But  to  cut  ofl'  occasion  for  complaint,  1  publish  it  en- 
tire without  those  corrections.  It  has  been  publicly  charged 
in  the  Western  Recorder  with  containing  false  statements. 
As  this  is  a  little  out  of  order,  the  pubhc  will  excuse  me  for 
not  replying  to  an  unknown  charge  brought  by  an  unknown 
"  Traveller." 

He  complains,  that  "  the  public  have  been  kept  in  dark- 
ness long  enough."  I  think  so  too.  There  are  a  number  of 
such  "  Travellers"  for  whose  sake  I  send  out  this  letter,, 
hoping  to  shed  some  light  on  their  path. 

A.  N. 


Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Oneida  County^  Sept,  6,  1827. 

Mr.  Finney's  sermon,  according  to  the  best  information  I 
have,  was  preached  at  Utica  last  winter,  soon  after  the  re- 
ception of  Mr.  Neitleton's  letter  to  Mr.  Aikin.  In  that  let- 
ter Mr.  Nettleton  had  pointed  out,  in  a  very  friendly  manner, 
certain  irregularities,  which  he  described  as  running  out  from 
under  Mr.  Finney  into  various  parts  of  the  country,  and 
which  Mr.  Nettleton  and  ministers  generally,  consider  as  ca- 
lamitous in  their  tendency,  and  adapted  to  do  great  injury  to 
the  cause  of  revivals.  The  object  of  the  letter  did  not  ap- 
pear to  criminate  Mr.  Finney,  of  whom  it  speaks  kindly,  and 
for  whom  it  apologises,  but  to  point  out  to  himself  and  his 
most  influential  friends,  in  order  to  their  being  corrected, 
such  things  as,  if  suffered  to  proceed,  must  greatly  injure  his 
usefulness.     Many  ministers  and  Christians  in  this  region  had 


24 

seen  things  of  the  same  general  nature  as  those  mentioned 
in  that  letter,  and  had  occasionally  made  them  the  subject  of 
animadversion,  in  private  conversation,  but  of  no  direct  pub- 
lic discussion  from  the  press,  previous  to  the  publication  of 
the  sermon.  It  was  well  understood,  however,  that  there 
were  many  things  accompanying  the  revivals  in  this  region, 
of  which  ministers  and  Christians,  as  well  as  others,  were  dis- 
posed to  complain ;  for  which  complaints,  those  ministers 
and  Christians  had  been  arraigned  before  the  world  in  the 
Western  Recorder,  and  severely  censured,  as  for  their  cold- 
ness and  opposition,  and  taking  sides  with  the  enemy.  The 
sermon  was  afterwards  preached  in  Troy,  I  am  informed, 
while  a  complaint  was  before  the  Presbytery  there,  and  yet 
undecided,  which  related  to  similar  things  which  were  mat- 
ters of  difficulty  in  that  place.  The  preaching  and  printing 
of  the  sermon,  under  these  circumstances,  when  taken  in 
connexion  with  its  contents,  cannot  leave  a  doubt,  I  think, 
on  the  mind  of  any  impartial  reader,  that  it  was  designed  as 
a  vindication  of  the  things  complained  of,  and  such  a  vindica- 
tion too,  as,  if  judged  sufficient,  would  and  must  condemn 
all  those  ministers  and  Christians  who  complained,  as  being 
like  the  impenitent  in  their  moral  feelings,  "  walking  with  the 
ungodly^  because  they  are  agreed^  It  being  considered  that 
these  circumstances  were  all  well  known  to  Mr.  Nettleton 
when  he  wrote  his  remarks,  and  that  the  sermon  pronounces 
so  severe  a  condemnation  upon  the  great  body  of  revival  mi- 
nisters in  our  country,  and  gives  such  advice  to  their  people 
to  "  shake  off  their  sleepy  ministers,"  as  is  adapted  to  encou- 
rage every  disorganizing  measure  which  any  enthusiast  might 
be  disposed  to  adopt,  it  seems  strange  to  me  that  any  friend 
of  pure  revivals  should  be  backward  to  acknowledge  his  ob- 
ligations to  Mr.  Nettleton  for  those  remarks,  or  to  consider 
them  as  unduly  severe.  And  I  am  especially  surprised  that 
any  who  know  these  circumstances  should  represent  them  as 
an  unprovoked  personal  attack,  or  consider  them  in  any  other 
light  than  as  the  temperate  and  appropriate  defence  of  a 
large  majority  of  the  ministers  and  Christians  of  our  country 
against  the  unfounded  and  injurious  charges  contained  in  that 
sermon,  by  the  lucid  exposure  of  the  false  principle  on  which 
the  whole  of  them  are  built,  and  by  which  they  are  attempted 
to  be  supported. 

I  think  that  those  who  are  for  stopping  the  discussion,  are 
in  a  mistake  respecting  the  true  policy  in  the  case.  I  think 
much  of  Cotton  Mather^ s  warning  :  "  There  was  a  town  call- 
ed Amyclae,  which  was  ruined  by  silence.  The  rulers,  be- 
cause there  had  been  some  false  alarms,  forbade  all  people, 
under  pain  of  death,  to  speak  of  any  enemies  approaching 


25 


them :  80,  when  the  enemies  came  indeed,  no  man  durst 
speak  of  it,  and  the  town  was  lost.  Corruptions  will  grow 
upon  the  land,  and  they  will  gain  by  silence.  It  will  be  so 
invidious  to  do  it,  no  man  will  dare  to  speak  of  the  corrup- 
tions ;  and  the  fate  of  Amycloe  will  come  upon  the  land." 


Remarks  of  Mr.  Nettleton  on  a  Sermon  hy  Rev.  Mr.  Finney. 

The  following  remarks  were  communicated  in  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Nettleton  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  of  New-York, 
and  published  in  the  Observer.  They  appear  somewhat  se- 
vere, but  we  have  such  confidence  in  the  prudence  and  bet- 
ter judgment  of  the  writer,  that  we  have  no  doubt  that  he 
thought  them  necessary. 

Durham,  N.  Y.  May  4th,  1827. 

My  dear  Brother — I  have  read  Brother  Finney's  sermon 
from  the  words,  "  How  can  two  walk  together  except  they 
be  agreed  ?"  The  principle  on  which  it  rests,  is  contained  in 
the  following  sentences  : 

"  If  any  thing,  even  upon  the  same  subject,  that  is  far 
above  or  below  our  tone  of  feeling,  is  presented  ;  ^and  if 
our  affections  remain  the  same,  and  refuse  to  be  enlisted  and 
brought  to  that  point,  we  must  feel  uninterested,  and  perhaps 
grieved  and  offended.  If  the  subject  be  exhibited  in  a  light 
that  is  below  our  present  tone  of  feelings,  we  cannot  be  in- 
terested until  it  come  up  to  our  feelings ;  if  this  does  not 
take  place,  we  necessarily  remain  uninterested.  If  the  sub- 
ject be  presented  in  a  manner  that  is  far  above  our  tone  of 
feeling,  and  our  affections  grovel  and  refuse  to  rise,  it  does 
not  fall  in  with  and  feed  our  affections  :  therefore  we  cannot 
be  interested ;  it  is  enthusiasm  to  us,  we  are  displeased  with 
the  warmth  in  which  our  affections  refuse  to  participate; 
and  the  farther  it  is  above  our  temperature,  the  more  are  we 
disgusted.  These  are  truths  to  which  the  experience  of 
every  man  will  testify,  as  they  hold  good  upon  every  subject, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  and  are  founded  upon  principles 
that  are  incorporated  with  the  very  nature  of  man." 

Now  all  this,  so  far  as  Christians  and  true  religion  are  con- 
cerned, I  take  to  be  false  in  theory,  contrary  to  fact,  and 
dangerous  in  its  consequences.     Present  to  the  mind  of  the 

4 


26 

Christian,  whose  holiness  and  flaming  zeal  shall  equal  that  of 
Paul,  the  least  degree  of  holiness  in  any  saint,  and  he  will 
not  be  offended,  but  interested.  He  would  be  greatly  delight- 
ed with  even  "  babes  in  Christ.''  And  the  higher  the  tone  of 
his  piety  and  holy  feeling,  the  greater  will  be  his  delight  even 
"  upon  the  same  subject."  Now  raise  the  tone  of  pious  feel- 
ing up  to  that  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
holy  angels,  and  still  they  will  not  lose  their  interest,  "  even 
upon  the  same  subject."  They  will  rejoice  even  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth,  far  more  than  will  those  whose  feel- 
ings fall  to  the  level  of  the  penitent  himself 

Nor  is  it  true  that  Christians  are  always  better  pleased 
with  those,  whose  tone  of  feeling  is  on  a  level  with  their 
own.  The  least  saint  on  earth  loves  holiness  in  others,  and 
rejoices  in  their  growth  in  grace.  And  he  loves  those  most 
whose  tone  of  holy  feeling  is  raised  farthest  above  him  ;  and 
for  the  same  reason  he  loves  the  Saviour  more  than  all. 
Every  child  of  God,  who  reads  his  bible,  is  far  better  pleased 
with  the  high-toned  piety  of  Job  and  Daniel  and  David  and 
Isaiah  and  Paul,  than  he  is  with  that  of  other  saints,  whose 
piety  falls  below  theirs,  or  to  the  level  his  own.  What  Chris- 
tian can  read  the  memoir^  of  Edwards  and  Brainard  without 
deep  interest  ?  I  know  of  no  Christian  that  does  not  read 
them  with  far  greater  interest  than  he  would  have  done  had 
they  exhibited  far  less  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  And 
though  Christians  feel  condemned  by  their  high-toned  piety, 
yet  for  this  very  reason  they  are  not  "  oftended  and  grieved," 
but  love  them  the  more.  Though  Christians  are  not  up  to 
the  tone  of  piety  exhibited  by  David  and  Paul,  Edwards  and 
Brainard,  yet  they  are  highly  delighted,  and  could  walk  to- 
gether with  them. 

Again :  take  the  example  of  our  Saviour.  No  Christian 
on  earth  is  better  pleased  with  any  other.  Though  many  of 
his  friends  Irave  died  and  gone  to  heaven  whom  he  still  loves, 
yet  the  Christian  can  say,  "  Whom  have  1  in  heaven  but 
thee,  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  beside 
thee."  The  tone  of  the  Saviour's  pious  and  holy  feeling  is 
certainly  raised  far  above  that  of  all  his  followers.  Hence, 
according  to  the  sentiment  of  the  sermon,  he  could  have  had 
no  followers  while  on  earth,  and  can  have  none  now.  All 
his  disciples  must  have  been  '•  displeased  with  his  warmth." 
And  the  higher  it  rose  "  above  their  temperature,  the  more 
they  must  have  been  disgusted.'''' 

Present  to  the  mind  of  the  Christian  the  holy  character  of 
God.  Is  not  this  subject  far  above  the  tone  of  the  feelings 
of  any  man  ?  Now,  according  to  the  sentiment  of  the  ser- 
mon, if  our  affections  are  not  "brought  to  that  point,  we  must 


27 

feel  "uninterested — grieved  and  offended.'"  According  to 
the  principle  of  his  own  sermon,  Brother  Finney  and  his 
friends  cannot  walk  with  God,  for  tliey  arc  not  agreed.  It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  God  has  an  hihnitely  higher  tone 
and  degree  of  holy  feeling  than  Brother  Finney.  He  is 
not  "  up  to  it."  Consequently,  on  his  own  principles,  they 
cannot  be  agreed.  God  is  displeased  with  him,  and  he 
with  God.  Brother  Finney  must  "  neccssaniif  be  dis- 
pleased with  that  high  and  holy  zeal  in  his  Maker,  which 
so  infinitely  transcends  his  own  : — and  the  ''  farther  it 
is  above  his  temperature,  the  more  he  w^ill  be  disgustecV 
"  These  are  truths,"  he  observes,  "  to  which  the  experience 
of  every  man  will  testify,  as  they  hold  good  upon  every  sub- 
ject and  under  all  circumstances,  and  are  founded  upon  prin- 
ciples that  are  incorporated  with  the  very  nature  of  man." 

Besides :  it  will  follow  from  his  own  reasoning,  that  Bro- 
ther Finney  and  those  Christians  whom  he  denounces  as 
"  cold,  stupid,  and  dead,"  actually  agree  better  than  himself 
and  his  Maker.  For  the  tone  of  his  own  feelings  is  more  on  a 
level  with  that  of  these  stupid  Christians,  than  with  the  holiness 
of  his  Maker.  Hence,  as  he  more  resembles,  he  must  be  bet- 
ter pleased  with  stupid  Christians,  than  with  the  Holy  Lord 
God.  Hence,  too,  he  must  love  them  more  than  his  Maker ; 
that  is,  he  must  love  the  "•  creature  more  than  the  Creator, 
who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever." 

On  the  principle  of  this  sermon,  it  is  impossible  to  love 
God  supremely.  The  Christian  will  love  those  imperfect  be- 
ings best,  who  most  resemble  himself;  angels  still  less,  and 
God  the  least  of  all.  So  much  for  the  foundation  of  this  ser- 
mon. 

On  the  principles  of  the  Gospel,  the  following  is  strictly 
true :  It  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  Christians  love  God 
supremely,  the  infinite  disparity  between  the  tone  of  their  holy 
and  pious  feelings  notwithstanding.  Hence,  secondly,  Chris- 
tians will  love  those  Christians  most,  who  have  the  most  of 
holiness  and  true  zeal :  for,  the  more  there  are  of  these,  the 
more  they  see  and  admire  the  image  of  God  in  them. 
Hence,  thirdly.  Christians  will  love  those  revivals  best,  which 
have  the  most  of  God  and  true  Christian  zeal  in  them ;  for 
true  zeal  can  never  rise  higher  than  holy  love,  and  a  due  pro- 
portion and  exercise  of  all  the  Christian  graces.  Hence,  fourth- 
ly, the  more  pure  revivals  are,  the  more  they  will  unite  the 
hearts  of  all  the  true  disciples  of  Christ ;  for  the  more  pure 
revivals  are,  the  more  lively  will  be  the  exercise,  and  the  more 
just  the  proportion  of  the  Christian  graces  ;  and  consequent- 
ly, the  greater  the  fellowship  among  the  saints.  Hence, 
fifthly,  Christians  who  are  really  awake  to  the  worth  of  souls» 


28 

and  whose  graces  &re  in  lively  exercise,  will  be  extremely 
careful  not  to  excite  needless  opposition  among  saints  and 
sinners  ;  lest  they  should  divide  the  former,  and  drive  the  lat- 
ter to  a  returnless  distance  from  the  Gospel.  The  wakeful 
preacher  will  be  extremely  solicitous  to  give  to  the  work  a 
pure  and  lovely  character,  to  enstamp  the  image  of  Christ — 

And  make  bis  lineaments  divine 

In  thought  and  word  and  action  shine. 

He  will  not  dash  on,  regardless  of  remote  consequences  ;  birt 
his  vigilance  and  extreme  caution  will  resemble  that  of  the 
painter  when  he  said,  "  T  am  painting  for  eternity." 

What  gives  this  subject  a  pecuhar  interest  in  my  mind  is 
this  consideration, — that  the  parties  named  in  the  inspired 
text  on  which  the  sermon  is  founded,  are  not  saints  and  sin- 
ners, nor  warm  and  cold  hearted  Christians.  But  the  text 
itself  means,  primarily,  God  and  man.  How  can  a  holy  God 
and  sinful  man  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ? 
Though  God  is  infinitely  holy,  and  man  a  vile  worm,  yet 
they  can  so  agree  as  to  walk  together  on  earth.  This  is 
commanded  :  "  Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect" — - 
"  What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God  V  Now  this  would  be  impossible  for  man  or 
angels,  on  the  principle]  of  the  sermon.  "  Enoch  walked 
with  God,"  and  so  does  every  saint  and  babe  in  Christ ;  but 
not  on  the  principle  that  the  tone  of  his  holiness  is  up  to  that 
of  his  Maker.  The  Bible  enjoins  growth  in  grace,  and  re- 
cognises different  degrees  of  holiness  in  the  saints  on  earth. 
Now,  on  the  principle  of  this  sermon,  they  cannot  walk  to- 
gether. Those  who  bear  the  most  fruit  must  separate  them- 
selves from  all  others,  because  they  are  not  up  to  their  stan- 
dard ;  and  so  they  must  all  be  divided,  according  to  their 
standing.  For  how  can  two  walk  together  except  they  come 
up  to  the  same  tone  of  feeling  !  On  Brother  Finney's  princi- 
ple, it  is  impossible  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond 
of  peace.  There  is  no  union  betv/een  Christ  and  his  mem- 
bers, and  no  fellowship  of  the  Spirit.  But  according  to  the 
Bible,  true  religion  is  the  same  in  all.  That  "  Wisdom  which 
is  from  above,  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to  be 
entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiahty  and 
without  hypocrisy,"  is  justified  of  all  her  children.  "  But  if  ye 
have  bitter  envying  and  strife  in  your  hearts,  glory  not  and 
lie  not  against  the  truth."  "  This  wisdom  descendeth  not 
from  above,  but  is  earthly,  sensual,  devilish."  "  For  where 
envying  and  strife  is,  there  is  confusion  and  every  evil  work." 
It  does  not  require  the  same  tone  of  holy  feeling  to  produce 
harmony  in  the  household  of  faith.     There  may  be  chords  in 


29 

music,  though  some  notes  fall  far  below  others.  "  And  truly 
our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ." 

There  is  fellowship  among  Christians,  and  unity  of  the 
Spirit,  while  some  are  far  more  holy  and  humble  than  others. 
This  is  correct  in  theory,  and  accords  with  fact.  Even  the 
Son  of  God,  with  all  his  burning  zeal,  never  preached  or 
prayed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  oft'end  one  of  his  little  chil-- 
dren.     (Luke  xvii.  1,  2.) 

The  standard  which  Brother  Finney  has  erected  by  which 
to  judge  of  the  propriety  of  measures,  is  that  saying  of  Ed- 
wards, to  "  do  what  he  thought  proper  in  his  best  frames.'''' 
Before  he  can  plead  the  example  of  Edwards,  Brother  Finney 
must  make  the  same  distinction  which  Edwards  has  done, 
between  true  and  false  zeal — true  and  false  affections, — lest 
himself  and  his  hearers  should  make  a  fatal  mistake  by  se- 
lecting the  ivorst  frames  of  the  Christian  or  hypocrite  as  their 
example.  This  mistake  has  often  been  made.  It  was  made 
by  Davenport  and  his  followers,  as  he  afterwards  confessed. 
According  to  the  Bible  and  Edwards,  the  Christian's  "  best 
frame,"  is  when  he  has  the  most  exalted  views  of  God,  and 
the  lowest  of  himself;  when  he  has  the  most  of  the  graces  of 
the  Spirit  in  harmonious  and  lively  exercise ; — when  he  has 
the  most  of  the  "  spirit,  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of 
Christ ;" — when  he  has  the  least  of  "  God,  I  thank  thee,"  and 
the  most  of  "  God,  be  merciful  unto  me  a  sinner."  Again : 
the  "  best  frame"  of  a  preacher^  according  to  the  Bible  and 
Edwards,  is  when  he  has  the  most  of  the  same  graces  in  live- 
ly exercise,  and  is  most  "  vigilant,"  most  "  gentle  unto  all 
men,"  and  most  willing  to  "  become  all  things  to  all  men,  if 
by  all  means  he  might  save  some," — "  in  meekness  instruct- 
ing those  that  oppose  themselves," — "  and  when  he  combines 
most  of  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  with  the  harmlessness  of 
the  dove." 

"  Ministers  should  be  like  lions  to  guilty  consciences,  but 
like  lambs  to  men's  persons.  The  amiable,  Ciirist-like  con- 
versation of  such  ministers,  in  itself  would  terrify  the  con- 
sciences of  men.  If  there  had  been  constantly  and  univer- 
sally observed  such  a  behaviour  as  this  in  itinerant  preachers^ 
it  would  have  terrified  the  consciences  of  sinners  ten  times  as 
much  as  all  the  invectives  and  censorious  talk  there  has  been 
concerning  particular  persons  for  their  opposition,  hypocrisy, 
delusion,  and  Pharisaism."  These,  according  to  the  Bible 
and  Edwards,  are  the  "  best  frames"  of  the  preacher.  But, 
on  the  principle  that  the  tone  of  his  holiness  must  equal  that 
of  his  Maker,  no  man  can  think  himself  to  be  in  a  "  good 
frame,"  without  having  very  low  thoughts  of  God,  or  very 


30 

exalted  thoughts  of  himself,  or  both.  This,  according  to  the 
sermon,  is  the  "  best  frame."  According  to  his  own  sermon. 
Brother  Finney  must  have  very  low  thoughts  of  God's  holi- 
ness, or  very  high  thoughts  of  his  own,  or  both ;  or  he  must 
think  himself  in  a  very  ''  bad  frame  ;  for  "  How  can  two 
walk  together  except  they  be  agreed  ?"  Is  this  the  scale  on 
which  Brother  Finney  is  labouring  to  raise  others  to  the  tone 
of  his  own  feeHngs  / 

Were  not  the  subject  too  solemn,  I  would  ask  Brother  Fin- 
ney how  high  he  has  ascended,  and  how  many  he  sees  above, 
and  how  many  below  him,  and  at  which  company  he  feels 
the  most  "grieved  and  offended."  This  scale  is  no  new 
thing.  [See  2  Cor.  x.  12.]  From  such  a  frightful  measure- 
ment, Paul  and  his  company  stood  aloof  On  this  principle, 
every  real  Christian  must  give  up  his  hope,  and  none  but  hy- 
pocrites, or  those  much  inflated  with  spiritual  pride,  would 
dare  take  the  comfort  of  the  sermon  to  themselves ;  and  it 
can  never  be  made  to  vindicate  any  thing  but  false  zeal,  false 
affections,  and  spurious  conversions  of  every  kind.  Brother 
Finney's  heart  must  be  better  than  his  head,  or  he  is  labour- 
ing under  an  awful  delusion. 

The  sermon  in  question  entirely  overlooks  the  nature  of 
true  religion.  It  says  not  one  word,  by  which  we  can  dis- 
tinguish between  true  and  false  zeal,  true  and  false  religion. 
Indeed  it  does  not  seem  to  hint  that  there  can  be  any  such 
thing  as  false  zeal  and  false  religion.  If  the  tone  of  feeling 
can  only  be  raised  to  a  certain  pitch,  then  all  is  well.  The 
self-righteous,  the  hypocrite,  and  all  who  are  inflated  with 
pride,  will  certainly  be  flattered  and  pleased  with  such  an 
exhibition  ;  especially  if  they  be  very  self-righteous  and  very 
proud.  False  affections  often  rise  far  higher  than  those  that 
are  genuine :  and  this  every  preacher,  in  seasons  of  revival, 
has  had  occasion  to  observe  and  correct.  And  the  reason  of 
their  great  height  is  obvious.  There  are  no  salutary  checks 
of  conscience — no  holy,  humble  exercises,  to  counteract  them 
in  their  flight.  And  they  court  observation.  "  A  Pharisee's 
trumpet  shall  be  heard  to  the  town's  end,  when  simplicity 
walks  through  the  town  unseen."  If  the  preacher  is  not  ex- 
tremely careful  to  distinguish  between  true  and  false  aflfec- 
tions,  the  Devil  will  certainly  come  in  and  overset  and  bring 
the  work  into  disgrace.  False  zeal  and  overgrown  spiritual 
pride  will  rise  up  and  take  the  management,  and  condemn 
meehiess  and  humility^  and  trample  upon  all  the  Christian 
graces,  because  they  are  not  "  up  to  it." 

Matters  of  fact  which  have  passed  under  my  own  observa- 
tion, might  serve  as  illustration.     I  have  often  seen  it ;  and 


31 

the  preacher  who  has  not  been  tried  with  this  subject,  and 
learned  to  correct  it,  has  not  got  his  first  lesson. 

Leaving  out  of  the  question  the  nature  of  true  religion,  as 
Brother  Finney  has  done  out  of  his  sermon,  there  is  a  sense 
in  which  his  theory  perfectly  accords  with  experience  and 
matters  of  fact.  So  far  as  false  zeal  and  false  affections  are 
concerned,  the  principle  of  the  sermon  is  correct.  A.  and  B. 
are  very  zealous,  and  extremely  self-righteous  ;  and  being 
equally  so,  they  can  walk  together,  for  they  are  agreed. 
Both  having  come  up  to  the  same  tone  of  feeling  with  Bro- 
ther Finney  in  his  sermon, — now  they  are  all  agreed,  and  all 
pleased,  having  done  all  that  the  preacher  required.  Now 
the  zeal  of  A.  "strikes  far  above  the  tone  of  feeling"  in  his 
fellow,  and  both  are  "displeased,  grieved,  and  oifended." 
B.  does  not  come  to  the  tone  of  A.  and  "  therefore  he  cannot 
be  interested  ;  it  is  enthusiasm — he  is  displeased  with  the 
warmth  in  which  his  affections  refuse  to  participate  ;  and  the 
farther  it  is  above  his  temperature,  the  more  he  is  disgusted." 
The  Christian  and  the  hypocrite  may  come  up  to  the  same 
tone  of  feeling  j  and  yet  they  cannot  walk  together,  for 
other  reasons.  The  character  of  their  affections  differs  as 
widely  as  light  and  darkness.  And  the  higher  their  affections 
rise,  the  wider  the  distance  between  them.  And  no  tone  or 
degree  of  feeling  can  possibly  bring  them  together.  Every 
effort  of  the  preacher  to  unite  them  by  raising  the  tone  of 
feeling,  will  only  increase  [the  difficulty.  This,  too,  accords 
with  experience  and  matters  of  fact.  Hence,  those  who 
adopt  the  same  creed,  and  belong  to  the  same  communion, 
can  have  no  fellowship.  Though  they  are  up  to  the  same 
tone  of  feeling,  and  feel  deeply^  yet  they  cannot  walk  toge- 
ther, for  they  do  not  feel  alike.  Feelings  which  are  not 
founded  on  correct  theology  cannot  be  right.  They  must 
necessarily  be  spurious,  or  merely  animal. 

Without  great  care  and  close  discrimination,  the  preacher 
will  unwittingly  justify  all  the  quarrels  and  divisions  in  our 
churches.  The  church  at  Corinth  valued  themselves  on  their 
great  spirituality,  and  high  attainments  in  religion.  Now  on 
the  principle  of  the  sermon  in  question,  their  divisions  and 
quarrels  could  be  no  evidence  to  the  contrary,  but  much  in 
their  favour.  Each  one  esteeming  others  worse  than  himself, 
would  conclude  that  the  whole  difficulty  lay  in  their  not  com- 
ing up  to  the  tone  of  his  own  feelings.  And  this  sermon 
would  have  confirmed  them  all  in  their  good  opinion  of  them- 
selves. But  Paul  told  them  that  the  very  contrary  was  true. 
"  For  whereas  there  is  among  you  envying,  and  strife,  and  di- 
visions, are  yet  not  carnal,  and  walk  as  men."  Without  the 
same  care,  the  preacher  will  condemn  others  for  keeping  the 


3^ 

unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace ;  and  for  *'  being  of 
one  accord  and  of  one  mind."  T/m?  peace,  and  harmony, 
and  order,  in  which  Paul  so  much  rejoiced,  will  be  disturbed 
and  broken  and  trampled  upon,  by  disorganizing  spi- 
ritual pride,  under  a  pretence  that  all  are  "  cold,  and  carnal, 
and  stupid,  and  dead,  and  not  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  times." 
All  who  are  thus  inflated,  will  take  the  advantage  of  this  ser- 
mon, and  be  sure  to  construe  all  opposition  to  their  own  dis- 
organizing movements  and  measures,  into  an  evidence  of 
superior  piety  in  themselves.  And  all  false  converts,  and 
others  inflated  with  spiritual  pride,  will  join  them  if  great 
care  be  not  taken  to  discriminate  between  true  and  false  zeal, 
and  to  give  the  distinguishing  marks  of  both.  Spiritual  pride 
will  often  court  opposition,  and  glory  in  it,  and  sometimes 
adopt  the  sentiment,  "The  more  opposition  the  better." 

A  number  of  examples  might  be  given  as  illustration.  One 
man  has  been  for  some  time  past  under  process  of  disci- 
pline for  the  followi-ng  offence  :  In  his  great  zeal  for  a  revi- 
val, at  a  public  meeting,  among  other  things,  he  called  his 
excellent  pastor  the  "head  Achan,"  and  said  that  "  his  cha- 
racter was  as  black  as  hell.''''  Though  he  has  nothing  against 
his  minister,  yet  he  justifies  himself  entirely  on  the  principle 
of  the  sermon  in  question  ;  and  says  that  "  he  did  it  to  have 
a  revival," — not  even  suspecting  that  there  can  be  any  such 
thing  as  false  zeal  and  overgrown  spiritual  pride,  leading  him 
to  adopt  measures  which  every  humble  Christian  and  all  the 
true  friends  of  revivals  will  certainly  condemn.  The  result 
is  an  unanimous  vote  of  excommunication. 

In  the  course  of  the  trial  this  fact  has  been  clearly  deve- 
loped :  that  the  character  of  the  religious  excitement  which 
he  wishes  to  promote,  is  just  such  as  all  the  church  and  all 
the  revival  ministers  of  my  acquaintance,  would  deplore  as 
the  greatest  calamity. 

All  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  facts  on  the 
subject,  know  that  it  was  on  the  principles  of  the  sermon  in 
question,  that  the  revival  was  run  out  in  the  time  of  Edwards, 
and  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  rising  of  twenty  years 
since.  And  all  those  ministers  who  do  not  discriminate  be- 
tween true  and  false  zeal,  true  and  false  affections,  in  their 
preaching  and  conversation,  and  make  that  difference  and 
hold  it  up  to  the  view  of  the  world,  if  possible,  clear  as  the 
sun,  heartily  approving  of  the  one,  and  as  heartily  and  pub- 
licly condemning  the  other,  will  turn  out  to  be  the  greatest 
traitors  to  the  cause  of  revivals.  They  become  responsible 
not  only  for  the  sentiment  in  question,  but  also  for  all  the 
corruptions  which  prevail  in  consequence  of  this  neglect. 
The  neglect  of  ministers  to  correct  these  evils  for  fear  of  do- 


33 

hig  mischief,  or  of  being  denounced  as  carnal  and  cold-heart- 
ed, or  as  enemies  to  revivals,  is  extremely  puerile  and  wick- 
ed. On  the  same  principle  they  must  not  attempt  to  correct 
intemperance  and  profane  swearing  in  church  members,  lest 
they  should  be  ranked  among  the  wicked  as  infidels  and  en- 
emies to  Christianity.  The  sentiment  in  question  would,  if 
carried  out  into  all  its  consequences,  defend  every  abomina- 
tion in  religion  that  could  be  named.  It  would  soon  come 
to  this :  that  the  only  evidence  that  ministers  are  cold,  and 
carnal,  and  stupid,  and  dead,  is,  that  they  cannot  approve  of 
every  art,  and  trick,  and  abominable  practice  in  laymen,  wo- 
men, and  children,  in  their  attempts  to  promote  a  revival. 
And  their  approbation  of  all  these  abominations,  would  be 
taken  as  a  good  sign  and  as  an  evidence  that  they  are  awake. 
Whereas  none  but  carnal  and  cold-hearted  ministers  would 
be  influenced  by  such  mean  motives.  It  is  only  a  trick  of 
the  Devil,  to  frighten  the  watchman  of  Israel  from  his  post, 
that  he  may  get  possession  of  it  himself;  or,  what  he  would 
like  still  better,  by  such  base  motives  to  entoil  and  enlist  him 
in  his  service,  by  compelling  him  to  adopt  his  own  measures. 
So  did  not  Paul.  His  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians  con- 
tain little  else  than  an  humbling  disclosure  of  abominable 
practices  and  quarrels  about  men  and  measures  in  promoting 
a  revival.  So  did  not  Edwards.  Though  he  was  denounced 
at  first,  he  could  not  be  frightened ;  but  frightened  his  de- 
nouncers, some  of  them  at  least,  into  a  public  recantation. 
A  denouncing  spirit  is  that  with  which  i^eal  Christians  have 
no  fellowship,  and  are  bound  to  shun. 

Without  regard  to  the  admonition,  "take  heed  to  thyself,' 
the  preacher  will  be  in  danger  of  trampling  upon  the  Divine 
direction,  "  In  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose  them- 
selves." 

"  The  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle 
unto  all  men."  Be  kindly  aflectioned,  be  pitiful,  be  courte- 
ous." He  will  be  in  great  danger  of  condemning  the 
"  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ,"  under  the  names  of 
"  carnal  policy"  and  "  hypocritical  suavity  of  manner."  The 
preacher  should  be  extremely  cautious  what  he  says  against 
"  wisdom  and  prudence,"  as  a  mark  of  "  puffing  up"  in  his  bre- 
thren ;  lest  he  trample  upon  the  authority  of  his  Divine  Mas- 
ter, in  the  precept  given  him  upon  the  same  point : — "  Behold 
I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves :  be  ye 
therefore  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves."  His  pre- 
cept is  founded  on  the  fact  that  wicked  men  may  become 
more  offended  with  what  is  wrong  in  manner,  than  with  what 
is  right  in  matter.  Hence  the  preacher  may  lose  their  con- 
sciences, and  the  Devil  has  gained  the  victory.     If  the  wick- 

5 


34 

ed  will  oppose,  it  becomes  us  to  be  careful  how  we  furnish 
them  with  successful  weapons  against  us.  If  we  regard  the 
direction  of  Christ,  even  though  they  rage,  we  may  still  keep 
our  hold  upon  their  consciences ;  and  so  long  as  we  can  do 
this,  we  need  not  despair  of  the  victory.  But  when  the 
preacher  has  lost  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  and  the  harmless- 
ness  of  the  dove,  the  contest  will  end  in  a  sham-fight,  and  the 
sooner  he  quits  the  field  the  better. 

Paul  would  allow  none  to  be  teachcFs  but  those  of  "  full 
age,  who  by  reason  of  use  have  their  senses  exercised  to  dis- 
cern  both  good  and  evil."  Hence  he  would  not  license 
young  converts  to  preach.  '•  Not  a  novice,  lest  being  lifted 
up  with  pride  he  fall  into  condemnation,  reproach,  and  the 
snare  of  the  devil.''  So  far  as  his  message  was  concerned, 
the  apostle  himself  went  forth,  "  saluting  no  man  by  the  way" 
— ^^  not  as  pleasing  men."  Aside  from  the  simple  truth  of 
that  message,  no  man  was  ever  more  yielding  and  flexible  in 
manner  and  measures.  "  Give  no  offence,  neither  to  the 
Jews,  neither  to  the  Gentiles,  nor  to  the  church  of  God." 
"  Even  as  /  please  all  men  in  all  things— tha-t  they  may  be 
saved."  "  I  am  made  all  things  to  all  men,  that  1  might  by 
all  means  save  some."  Was  this  "  carnal  policy  ?"  and 
was  Paul  "  in  a  very  cold  state  when  he  wrote  that  ?" 

The  wisdom  of  the  measures  adopted  and  recommended 
by  Paul,  appear  from  the  fact  that  sinners  may  be  more 
ofiended  with  what  is  ivrong  in  manner,  than  with  what  is 
right  in  matter.  If  the  preacher  does  not  hold  a  balance 
between  conscience  and  depravity,  he  can  do  nothing.  The 
very  fact  that  the  unrenewed  heart  is  so  opposed  to  God  and 
the  Gospel,  has  by  some  been  assigned  as  a  reason  for  stirring 
up  all  its  opposition.  Whereas,  aside  from  the  simple  exhi- 
bition of  divine  truths  Paul  adopted  a  method  directly  the  op- 
posite. If  the  vigilance  of  human  depravity  should  exceed 
the  vigilance  of  the  preacher  in  his  manner  and  measures, 
by  this  very  means  he  will  quiet  the  consciences  of  his  hear- 
ers. Regardless  of  his  manner,  Paul  v/ould  have  lost  his  hold 
on  the  consciences  of  sinners,  and  needlessly  and  wickedly 
have  sent  his  hearers  to  a  returnless  distance  from  the  Gos- 
pel. This  made  him  exceedingly  careful  "  lest  he  should  hin- 
der the  Gospel  of  Christ."  Since  mankind  will  oppose,  we 
should  be  careful  not  to  put  weapons  of  successful  defence 
into  their  hands.  While  they  oppose,  we  should  be  careful 
to  keep  their  consciences  on  our  side. 

A  powerful  religious  excitement  badly  conducted,  has  ever 
been  considered  by  the  most  experienced  ministers  and  best 
friends  of  revivals,  to  be  a  great  calamity.  Without  close 
discrimination,  an  attempt  to  raise  the  tone  of  religious  feel« 


35 

ing  will  do  infinite  mischief.  This  was  the  manner  of  false 
teachers.  "  They  zealously  affect  you,  but  not  well.'"  It  will 
be  like  that  of  Paul  before  his  conversion,  and  like  that  of 
the  Jews  who  were  never  converted,  "  a  zeal  of  God  but  not 
according  to  knowledge.^'  The  driving  will  become  like  the 
driving  of  Jehu,  "  Come  see  my  zeal  for  the  Lord."  The 
storm,  and  earthquake,  and  fire,  are  dreadful :  but  God  is 
not  there. 

The  design  of  these  remarks  is  to  show  the  infinite  impor- 
tance of  distinguishing  between  true  and  false  zeal, — true 
and  false  affections. 

On  reading  the  sermon  in  question,  I  was  rcnnnded  of  the 
repeated  complaints  which  for  some  time  past  I  have  heard 
from  the  most  judicious,  experienced,  and  best  revival  minis- 
ters in  the  West ;  the  substance  of  which  is  as  follows  : 
"  There  are  various  errors  in  the  mode  of  conducting  revi- 
vals in  this  region,  which  ought  to  be  distinctly  pointed  out. 
That  on  the  prayer  of  faith.  This  talking  to  God  as  a  man 
talks  to  his  neighbour,  is  truly  shocking — telling  the  Lord  a 
long  story  about  A.  or  B.,  and  apparently  with  no  other  in- 
tent than  to  produce  a  kind  of  stage  effect  upon  the  indivi- 
dual in  question,  or  upon  the  audience  generally.  This 
mouthing  of  words ;  those  deep  and  hollow  tones,  all  indi- 
cative that  the  person  is  speaking  into  the  ears  of  man,  and 
not  to  God.  I  say  nothing  of  the  nature  of  the  petitions  of- 
ten presented  ;  but  the  awful  irreverence  of  the  manner ! 
How  strange  that  good  men  should  so  far  forget  themselves, 
as  evidently  to  play  tricks  in  the  presence  of  the  great  God." 

"  I  have  often  been  struck  with  this  circumstance  in  the 
mode  of  preaching,  that  nothing  was  heard  of  the  danger  of 
a  spurious  conversion.  For  months  together,  the  thought 
never  seemed  to  be  glanced  at,  that  there  was  any  such  thing 
as  a  Satanic  influence  in  the  form  of  religion,  but  only  as 
openly  waging  war  against  all  religion.  Such  a  character  as 
an  enthusiastic  hypocrite,  or  a  self-deceived  person,  seemed 
never  to  be  once  dreamed  of.  The  only  danger  in  the  way 
of  salvation  was  coldness^  deadness,  and  rank  opposition. 
On  no  occasion  did  the  eye  ever  seem  to  be  turned  to  ano- 
ther quarter  in  the  heavens." 

The  last  paragraph  contains  the  thought  to  which  I  allude. 
The  sermon  in  question  bears  striking  marks  of  the  same 
character.  It  is  an  important  part  of  a  preacher's  duty  in 
a  season  of  powerful  revival,  to  discriminate  between  true 
and  false  conversion.  Without  this,  every  discerning  Chris- 
tian knows  that  the  work  will  rapidly  degenerate.  The  most 
flaming  spiritual  pride  will  be  taken  for  the  highest  moral  ex- 
cellence, and  will  rise  up  and  take  the  lead. 


36 

Preachers  who  have  not  guarded  well  this  avenue  in  sea- 
sons  of  powerful  excitement,  have  always  done  more  to  ar- 
rest, and  disgrace,  and  run  out  revivals,  than  all  the  cold- 
hearted  professors  and  open  enemies  of  religion  together.  It 
was  this  neglect  in  some  zealous  preachers,  that  run  out  the 
revival  in  the  days  of  Edwards,  and  which  led  him  to  write  his 
Treatise  on  the  Religious  Affections. 

Edwards  observes,  "  It  is  by  the  mixture  of  counterfeit  re* 
ligion  with  true,  not  discerned  and  distinguished,  that  the 
Devil  has  had  the  greatest  advantage  against  the  kingdom 
of  Christ.  By  this  he  prevailed  against  New-England  to 
quench  the  love  and  spoil  the  joys  of  her  espousals,  about  an 
hundred  years  ago.  By  this  the  Devil  has  prevailed  against 
the  late  revival  in  New-England,  so  promising  in  its  begin- 
ning.* By  this  he  has  foiled  us,  and  the  daughter  of  Zion 
now  lies  on  the  ground,  I  have  seen  the  Devil  prevail  in  the 
same  way  against  two  revivals  in  this  country."" 

"  After  religion  has  revived  in  the  church  of  God,  and  en- 
emies appear,  people  that  are  engaged  to  defend  its  cause, 
are  commonly  most  exposed  where  they  are  least  sensible  of 
danger.  While  they  are  wholly  intent  upon  the  opposition 
that  appears  openly  before  them,  to  make  head  against  that, 
and  neglect  carefully  to  look  all  around  them,  the  Devil  comes 
behind  them,  and  gives  them  a  fatal  stab  unseen  ;  and  has  an 
opportunity  to  give  a  more  home  stroke,  and  wound  the 
deeper,  because  he  strikes  at  his  leisure,  and  according  to  his 
pleasure,  being  obstructed  by  no  guard  or  resistance." 

"  And  so  it  is  likely  ever  to  be  in  the  church  whenever  reli- 
gion revives  remarkably,  till  we  have  learned  to  distinguish 
between  true  and  false  religion^  between  saving  affections 
and  experiences,  and  those  manifold  fair  shov»^s,  and  glisten- 
ing appearances,  by  which  they  are  counterfeited ;  the  con- 
sequences of  which,  when  they  are  not  distinguished,  are  of- 
ten inexpressibly  dreadful.  By  this  means,  the  Devil  grati- 
fies himself,  by  bringing  it  to  pass,  that  that  should  be  ofiered 
to  God,  by  multitudes,  under  a  notion  of  a  pleasing,  accept- 
able service  to  him,  that  is,  indeed,  above  all  things  abomi- 
nable to  him.     By  this  means  he  deceives  great  multitudes 


*  He  means  the  revival  in  1740,  and  one  about  T637.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  ever  since  the  time  of  Lnther,  tiicre  has  been,  once  in  about 
80  or  100  years,  a  violent  assault  of  this  kind  npon  the  churcii,  whicl)  has 
proved  successful  to  a  considerable  extent.  That  period  is  just  about  suf- 
iicient  for  thop.e  who  have  witneised  one  such  event  to  pass  off  the  stage, 
vvitn  their  children  who  have  heard  their  fathers  tell  it,  and  a  g-eneration 
to  arise  iofnorant  of  Satan's  devices,  against  whom  they  may  be  again  suc- 
cessfuiiv  put  in  practice. 


37 

about  the  state  of  their  souls ;  making  them  think  they  are 
something,  when  they  are  nothing ;  and  so  eternally  undoes 
them  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  establishes  many  in  a  strong  con- 
fidence of  their  eminent  holiness,  who  are  in  God's  sight  some 
of  the  vilest  of  hypocrites.  By  this  means  Satan  brings  it 
to  pass,  that  men  work  wickedness  under  a  notion  of  doing 
God  service,  and  to  sin  without  restraint,  yea^  with  earnest 
forwardness  and,  zeal.,  and  with  all  their  might.  By  this 
means  he  brings  in  even  the  friends  of  religion,  insensibly  to 
themselves^  to  do  the  work  of  enemies.,  by  destroying  religion 
in  a  far  more  effectual  manner  than  open  enemies  can  do, 
under  a  notion  of  advancing  it.  By  this  means  the  Devil 
scatters  the  flock  of  Christ,  and  sets  them  one  against  ano- 
ther, and  that  with  great  heat  of  spirit,  under  a  notion  of 
zeal  for  God ;  and  religion  by  degrees  degenerates  into  vain 
jangling.  And  in  the  midst  of  this  confusion,  the  Devil  has 
great  opportunity  to  advance  his  own  interest,  and  make  it 
strong  in  ways  innumerable,  and  get  the  government  of  all 
into  his  own  hands,  and  work  his  own  will."  Thus  much  for 
Edwards. 

If  ever  there  was  a  call  for  close  discrimination  between 
true  and  false  zeal,  true  and  false  conversion,  the  subject  of 
the  sermon  in  question  demanded  it.  And  without  this  dis- 
crimination, the  preacher  could  not  touch  the  spirit  of  his 
text,  nor  accomplish  any  important  object.  For,  the  least 
spark  of  grace,  the  lowest  tone  of  right  feeling  or  true  love, 
is  in  unison  with  the  feelings  of  all  the  saints  on  earth,  in  hea- 
ven, and  with  those  of  God  himself.  And  possessing  that 
love,  they  can  all  walk  together.  Whereas,  whatever  of 
eloquence  or  flaming  zeal  he  might  possess  without  it,  Paul 
would  pronounce  himself  "  nothing ;"  and  with  it,  the  least 
saint  on  earth  an  heir  of  everlasting  salvation. 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  preacher  present 
to  his  hearers  the  distinguishing  marks  of  true  religion,  the 
graces  of  the  Spirit,  in  all  their  native  loveliness  ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  detect  and  expose  every  counterfeit. 
Having  done  this,  he  may  labour  with  all  his  might  to  bring 
them  up  to  the  highest  possible  tone.  He  may  exhort  them 
to  the  exercise  of  "  Love,  joy,  peace,  long-sufiering,  gentle- 
ness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance  ;  and  to  be  kind- 
ly affectioned  one  to  another,  with  brotherly  love,  in  honour 
preferring  one  another.  That  they  walk  with  all  lowliness 
and  meekness,  with  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in 
love,  endeavouring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace.  That  they  let  nothing  be  done  through 
strife,  or  vain  glory,  but  in  lowliness  of  mind  let  each  esteem 
others  better  than  themselves.     Let  all  bitterness,  and  wraths 


38 

and  anger,  and  clamour,  and  evil-speaking,  be  put  away 
from  you,  with  all  malice.  And  be  ye  kind  one  to  another, 
tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  for 
Christ's  sake  hath  forgiven  you.  Likewise  ye  younger,  sub- 
mit yourselves  unto  the  elder.  Yea,  all  of  you  be  subject 
one  to  another,  and  be  clothed  with  humility."  He  may 
exhort  them  to  "  put  on,  as  the  elect  of  God, — and  be  cover- 
ed all  over  with  these  shining  graces, — bowels  of  mercies, 
kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering,  for- 
bearing one  another :  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do 
ye. — And  above  all  things,  put  on  charity,  which  is  the  bond 
of  perfectness."  He  may  set  their  hearts  all  on  fire  with  that 
heavenly  Form — "  so  pure,  so  peaceable,  so  gentle  and  easy 
to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  parti- 
ality and  without  hypocrisy  :" — that  is  so  "  long-suffering,  so 
kind,  envieth  not,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  un- 
seemly, seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked  ;  think- 
eth  no  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth ;  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all 
things,  and  never  faileth."  These  are  the  prevailing  charac- 
teristics of  a  revival  of  religion.  Their  absence  cannot  be 
compensated  by  flaming  zeal. 

Nor  is  it  sufficient  that  these  and  all  other  Christian 
graces  be  exhibited,  and  their  counterfeit  exposed  in  theory 
alone.  For  so  hypocrites  will  claim  them  all  as  their  own* 
Profession  is  not  principle.  ''  By  iheir  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them."  "  Who  is  a  wise  man  ?  Let  him  show  out  of  a  good 
conversation  his  works  with  meekness  of  wisdom." 

"  Easy  indeed  it  were  to  rench 
A  mansion  in  the  courts  above, 
If  watery  floods  and  fluent  speech, 
Mi^ht  serve  instead  of  faith  and  love." 

The  most  important  part  of  the  preacher's  duty  is,  to  ex- 
hibit the  evidence  of  their  existence  in  the  heart,  by  corres- 
ponding actions  in  the  life.  And  this,  too,  by  being  "  ensam- 
ples  to  the  flock  ;"  and  by  carefully  copying  the  example 
of  his  Divine  Master,  "  beseeching  them  by  the  meekness  and 
gentleness  of  Christ." 

As  the  time  would  fail  me  to  complete  the  subject,  Ed- 
wards may,  in  part,  supply  this  deficiency  in  Brother  Fin- 
ney''s  sermon.  I  w^ould  therefore  take  this  opportunity  to  re- 
commend to  all  young  converts  a  careful  perusal  of  his  ac- 
count of  the  revival  in  New-England,  fourth  part ^  and  what 
he  says  on  the  marks  of  true  humility  and  spiritual  pride,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  brief  abstract : 

Spiritual  pride  disposes  to  speak  much  of  the  faults  of 


39 

others,  and  with  bitterness,  or  with  levity  and  an  air  of* 
contempt.  Pure  Christian  humility  rather  disposes  to  be  si- 
lent about  them,  or  to  speak  of  them  with  grief  and  pity. 
Spiritual  pride  is  very  apt  to  suspect  others  ;  an  humble  saint 
is  most  jealous  of  himself.  The  spiritually  proud  person  is 
apt  to  find  fault  with  others  that  are  low  in  grace,  and  to  be 
much  in  observing  how  cold  and  dead  they  be,  and  crying 
out  of  them  and  sharply  reproving  them  for  it.  The  humble 
Christian  has  so  much  to  do  at  home,  with  his  own  heart, 
that  he  is  not  apt  to  be  very  busy  with  the  hearts  of  others, 
and  is  apt  to  esteem  others  better  than  himself,  and  to  take 
most  notice  of  what  is  good  in  them,  while  he  takes  most  no- 
tice of  what  is  wrong  in  himself.  In  his  clearest  discoveries 
of  God's  glory,  and  in  his  most  rapturous  frames,  he  is  most 
overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  his  own  vileness,  and  feels  the 
deepest  self-abasement. 

It  is  a  mark  of  spiritual  pride,  when  any  are  disposed  to 
speak  of  what  they  see  amiss  in  others,  in  the  most  harsh, 
severe,  and  terrible  language  ;  saying  of  their  opinions,  or 
conduct,  or  advice,  of  their  coldness,  their  silence,  their  cau- 
tion, their  moderation,  and  their  prudence,  that  they  are  from 
the  devil^  or  from  hell  ;  that  such  a  thing  is  devilish,  or  hellish, 
or  cursed,  and  the  like  ;  so  that  the  words  devil  and  hell  are 
almost  continually  in  their  mouths.  And  especially,  when 
such  language  is  used  towards  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and 
others  whose  age  or  station  entitles  them  to  particular  respect. 
Humility  leads  the  Christian  to  treat  others  that  are  in  fault 
with  meekness  and  gentleness,  as  Christ  did  his  disciples,  and 
particularly  Peter,  when  he  had  shamefully  denied  him. 

Spiritual  pride  disposes  to  affect  singularity  in  manner  and 
appearance,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  observation.  Hu- 
mility disposes  the  Christian  to  avoid  every  thing  which  is 
likely  to  draw  upon  him  the  observation  of  others,  and  to  be 
singular  only  where  he  cannot  be  otherwise  without  the  neg- 
lect of  a  plain  and  positive  duty.  Spiritual  pride  common- 
ly occasions  a  certain  stiffness  and  inflexibility  in  persons,  in 
their  own  judgment  and  their  own  ways.  Humility  inclines 
to  a  yielding,  pliable  disposition.  The  humble  Christian  is 
disposed  to  yield  to  others,  and  conform  to  them,  and  please 
them,  in  every  thing  but  sin. 

Spiritual  pride  disposes  persons  to  stand  at  a  distance  from 
others,  as  better  than  they.  The  humble  Christian  is  ready 
to  look  upon  himself  as  more  unvvortiiy  than  others,  yet  he 
does  not  love  the  appearance  of  an  open  separation  from  vi- 
sible Christians ;  and  will  carefully  shun  every  thing  that 
looks  like  distinguising  himself  as  more  humble,  or  in  any 
respect  better  than  others. 


40 

The  eminently  humble  Christian  is  clothed  with  lowliness, 
mildness,  meekness,  gentleness  of  spirit  and  behaviour,  and 
with  a  soft,  sweet,  condescending,  winning  air  and  deport- 
ment. Humility  has  no  such  thing  as  roughness,  or  con- 
tempt, or  fierceness,  or  bitterness,  in  its  nature,  which  things 
are  marks  of  spiritual  pride  ;  as  are  also  invectives,  and  cen- 
sorious talk  concerning  particular  persons  for  their  opposi- 
tion, hypocrisy,  delusion,  phari'saism,  and  the  hke. 

Spiritual  pride  takes  great  notice  of  opposition  and  inju- 
ries that  are  received,  and  is  often  speaking  of  them.  Hu- 
mility disposes  a  person  rather  to  be,  like  his  blessed  Lord 
when  reviled,  dumb,  not  opening  his  mouth.  The  more 
clamorous  and  furious  the  world  is  against  him,  the  more 
silent  and  still  Vv^ill  he  be. 

Spiritual  pride  leads  those  who  are  reproached  to  be 
more  bold  and  confident,  and  to  go  greater  lengths  in  that 
for  which  they  are  blamed.  Humility  leads  to  improve  the 
reproaches  of  enemies  as  an  occasion  of  serious  self-exami- 
nation. 

Spiritual  pride  leads  to  a  certain  unsuitable  and  self-confi- 
dent boldness  before  God  and  man.  Humility  leads  to  the 
opposite. 

Assuming  is  a  mark  of  spiritual  pride  :  putting  on  the  airs 
of  a  master,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  dictate.  Humihty  leads 
the  Christian  to  take  the  place  of  a  learner,  to  be  "  swift  to 
hear,  slow  to  speak."  The  eminently  humble  Christian 
thinks  he  wants  help  from  every  body,  whereas  he  that  is 
spiritually  proud,  thinks  every  body  wants  his  help.  Chris- 
tian humility,  under  a  sense  of  others'  misery,  entreats  and 
beseeches ;  spiritual  pride  affects  to  command  and  warn  with 
authority. 

If  young  ministers  had  great  humility,  it  would  dispose 
them  especially  to  treat  aged  ministers  with  respect  and  re- 
verence, as  their  fathers,  notwithstanding  that  a  sovereign 
God  may  have  given  them  greater  success  than  they  have 
had. 

It  is  a  mark  of  spiritual  pride  to  refuse  to  enter  into  dis- 
course or  reasoning  with  such  as  are  considered  carnal  men, 
when  they  make  objections  and  inquiries.  Humility  would 
lead  ministers  to  condescend  to  carnal  men,  as  Christ  has 
condescended  to  us,  to  bear  with  our  unteachableness  and 
stupidity,  and  still  follow  us  with  instructions,  line  upon  fine, 
precept  upon  precept,  saying,  "  come  let  us  reason  together ;" 
it  would  lead  to  a  compliance  with  the  precept,  "  Be  ready 
always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a  rea- 
son of  the  hope  that  is  in  you  with  meekness  and  fear." 

Such  are  some  of  the  marks  of  spiritual  pride  and  true 


41 

humility  pointed  out  by  President  Edwards.  The  abstract 
IS  given  as  much  as  possible  in  his  own  words.  The  whole 
of  what  he  says  on  the  subject  deserves  the  most  serious  con- 
sideration. 

The  friends  of  religion  have  been  so  much  gratified  with 
that  beautiful  hymn  by  Newton,  that  I  shall  venture  to  insert 
It  in  my  letter  : 

TRUE  AND  FALSE  ZEAL. 

Zeal  is  that  pure  and  heavenly  flame 

The  fire  of  love  supplies  ; 
While  that  which  often  bears  the  name, 

Is  self  in  a  disg-uise. 

True  zeal  is  merciful  and  mild, 

Can  pity  and  forbear ; 
The  false  is  headstrong,  fierce  and  wild, 

And  breathes  revenge  and  war. 

While  zeal  for  truth  the  Christian  warms. 

He  knows  the  worth  of  peace ; 
But  self  contends  for  names  and  forms, 

Its  party  to  increase. 

Zeal  has  attained  its  highest  aim, 
^  Its  end  is  satisfied, 
If  sinners  love  the  Saviour's  name, 
Nor  seeks  it  aught  beside. 

But  self,  however  well  employed. 

Has  its  own  ends  in  view  ; 
And  says,  as  boasting  Jehu  cried, 

•*  Come,  see  what  I  can  do.'» 

Dear  Lord,  the  idol  self  dethrone, 

And  from  our  hearts  remove  ; 
And  let  no  zeal  by  us  be  shown, 

But  that  which  springs  from  love. 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

ASAHEL  NETTLETON. 

V 

Rev.  Dr.  Spring. 


42 


FROM    THB    KE\r-TORK    OB9ERVEB.. 


June  19th,  1827, 


Messrs.  Editors,^ — The  following  communication  from  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Porter,  of  Catskill,  is  designed  to  correct  some  re- 
ports which  have,  of  late,  been  in  circulation  in  this  region, 
as  well  as  to  express  his  sentiments  in  relation  to  certain 
measures  which  have  been  introduced  into  some  of  our  west- 
ern revivals.  Dr.  Porter  consents  to  its  pubhcation,  and 
others  have  advised  to  the  measure. 

Catskill,  June  14,  1827. 

Dear  Sir, — In  a  communication  recently  received  from  the 
West,  to  my  great  surprise,  I  have  derived  the  following  in- 
telligence ;  to  all  which  I  feel  it  a  duty  I  owe  to  the  public 
and  to  myself,  to  make  a  reply.  You  say,  "  I  have  received 
information  that  a  great  revolution  has  taken  place  in  the 
East  in  favour  of  Mr.-  Finney.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Benedict, 
of  Chatham,  has  pledged  himself  to  Mr.  Finney  to  support 
him  ;  that  at  an  interview  with  myself,  Mr.  Benedict  won  me 
over  to  Mr.  Finney's  side ;  and  that  Mr.  Benedict  is  now 
gone  to  New-York  to  create  a  sentiment  in  Mr.  Finney's  fa- 
vour ;  and  it  is  moreover  added,  that  I  have  been  to  Durham 
to  convince  Mr.  Williston  that  Mr.  Finney  is  right." 

As  to  the  great  revolution  at  the  East,  1  have  nothing  to 
answer ;  and  as  to  Mr.  Benedict  he  can  best  speak  for  him- 
self. From  the  interview  I  had  with  you  at  Durham,  and  in 
the  stage  to  Catskill,  and  at  my  house,  you  know  my  senti- 
ments perfectly.  Since  that  time  I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Bene- 
dict in  Hudson,  nor  been  at  Durham,  nor  seen  Mr.  WiUiston, 
nor  communicated  to  him  a  single  syllable  on  any  subject 
whatever.  Besides,  I  have  had  no  occasion  to  change  my 
mind  on  the  matters  in  question,  since  I  saw  you  ;  and  after 
re-perusing  Mr.  Finney's  sermon  and  Mr.  Nettleton's  remarks, 
and  what  1  have  seen  in  the  papers,  my  opinion  is  precisely 
the  same  as  I  expressed  it  to  you,  when  we  were  together. 
Whatever  might  have  been  Mr.  Finney's  design,  it  is  perfect- 
ly clear  to  my  understanding,  that  the  principle  laid  down 
and  advocated  in  his  sermon,  opens  the  door  for  the  intro- 
duction of  all  those  extravagances  so  often  witnessed  in  reli- 
gious conferences  and  prayer  meetings  ;  and  that  Mr.  Nettle- 
ton's  remarks  on  said  sermon  are  in  point,  and  that  they  have 
no  severity  beyond  the  demands  of  sober  truth.  Mr.  Nettle- 
ton  has  done  what  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  a 


43 

friend  to  revivals  of  religion,  and  one  who  has  had  so  much 
experience  in  them,  was  in  duty  bound  to  do. 

When  he  wrote  his  remarks,  as  you  very  well  know,  being 
present,  he  was  expecting  to  go,  in  a  few  days,  before  his 
Judge  ;  yet  his  remarks  speak  for  themselves,  and  to  me  they 
afford  convincing  proof,  that  his  mind  was  never  more  clear, 
and  acute,  and  vigorous,  than  when  he  indited  to  his  amanu- 
ensis those  remarks.  I  know  the  views  of  many  of  the  ablest 
ministers  on  the  stage,  and  who  have  had  the  longest  expe- 
rience in  religious  revivals,  and  that  they,  with  unanimous 
voice,  condemn  the  measures  in  question,  and  to  which  so 
many  facts  testify  as  deleterious,  and  a  calamity  to  be  de- 
precated, and  to  be  guarded  against  as  one  of  the  sorest  evils 
Avhich  can  befall  the  church  in  this  or  any  other  age.  Among 
all  my  acquaintance,  whether  personal  or  by  reputation,  I 
know  not  of  a  single  minister  of  our  denomination,  whether 
Congregational  or  Presbyterian,  in  whom  I  have  reposed  con- 
fidence, and  whose  praise  is  and  has  been  for  a  long  time, 
say  for  thirty  years,  in  all  the  churches,  but  is  opposed  to 
many  of  the  measures  which  have  prevailed  in  Oneida  coun- 
ty, Troy,  and  some  other  places.  And  here  I  am  willing  to 
mention  some  names, — names  which  I  venerate.  Drs.  Hyde, 
Shepard,  Griffin  and  Richards,  and  younger  men  of  eminence 
for  piety,  talents,  and  success  in  the  ministry,  as  Drs.  Beech- 
er,  Humphreys,  Spring,  McAuley ;  and  of  Troy  Presbytery, 
Messrs.  Tomb,  Prime,  Lyman,  Rogers,  and  also  Dr.  Blatch- 
ford  of  that  body, — are  united  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the 
same  judgment,  in  disapproving  and  condemning  measures 
which  have  been  adopted  and  pushed  to  an  alarming-  extremi- 
ty^  as  an  assemblage  of  facts  testify  beyond  all  contradiction  ^ 
having  transpired  before  many  witnesses.  In  respect  to  Mr. 
Nettleton's  remarks  on  Mr.  Finney's  sermon,  "Dr.  Griffin  is 
willing  it  should  be  said  and  published,  that  he  considers  the 
remarks  Jms^  ivhat  they  should  be^ 

The  subject  has  now  been  before  me  more  than  a  year. 
These  extravagances  are  not  new.  They  made  their  appear- 
ance before,  and  in,  and  after,  the  days  of  Edwards.  They 
were  followed  with  the  most  baneful  consequences.  They 
well  nigh  ruined  the  character  of  religious  revivals  in  the  es- 
timation of  the  best  ministers  and  the  best  Christians.  It 
took  the  church  half  a  century  to  repair  the  loss  she  had  sus- 
tained. I  have  long  been  alarmed  and  distressed  at  what 
has  been  in  progress  of  extravagance,  and  scarcely  opened 
my  lips.  I  am  now  constrained  to  express  my  mind  with  de- 
cision and  without  reserve.  And  I  believe  it  as  certain  as  my 
existence,  that  if  a  stop  is  not  put  to  the  extravagances  and 
anti-scriptural  measures,  such  as  females  of  all  ages  praying 


44 

in  social  meetings  when  there  are  males  assembled,  and  for 
persons  by  name,  and  in  a  style  irreverent  and  shocking  to 
the  humble  and  contrite  spirit,  and  so  contrary  to  all  scriptu- 
ral example  recorded  in  the  Bible,  revivals  of  religion  will 
lose  their  character.  If  these  things  are  introduced  into  re- 
vivals of  religion,  piety  will  revolt ;  it  does  revolt.  These 
things  throw  our  Theological  Seminaries  and  Colleges  into 
the  back-ground.  I  consider  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Nettleton 
as  the  development  of  a  principle,  the  practical  illustration 
of  which  is  now  portrayed  before  the  eyes  of  the  public  by 
matters  of  fact. 

1  have  much  more  in  mind  than  I  have  time  to  write. 
You  can  make  such  use  of  this  letter  as  you  please.  It  is 
written  in  great  haste, — but  I  have  no  fear  arising  from  its 
publicity.     Yours,  &;c. 

DAVID  PORTER. 


FROM    THE    ALBANY    CHRISTIAN    REGISTER. 

Mr.  Editor, — The  Review  which  I  herewith  send  you,  was^ 
written  immediately  on  the  appearance  of  the  sermon. 
Events,  however,  occurred  about  that  time,  which  encou- 
raged the  hope  that  its  publication  would  be  unnecessary ; 
and  it  would  not  now  appear,  had  not  a  Review  of  Mr.  Net- 
tleton's  Remarks,  and  some  other  kindred  publications,  re- 
cently evinced  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the 
new  measures,  to  defend  and  sustain  the  sentiments  of  the 
sermon. 

NOVANGLUS. 


REVIEW. 

A  Sermon  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  Churchy  Troy^ 
March  4,  1S27,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney^  from 
Amos  3.  3.     Can  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed? 

The  revivals  in  Oneida  county  and  the  vicinity,  during  the 
past  year,  have  attracted  much  attention.  They  have  been 
hailed  by  many  as  the  commencement  of  a  new  era  in  revi- 
vals;  and  the  measures  understood  to  have  had  the  most 
prominent  place  in  their  promotion,  have  been  denominated 


45 

the  new  measures,  and  been  thought  by  many  to  be  a  won- 
derful improvement.  Some  have  mtimated  that  the  mea- 
sures which  were  successful  in  promoting  revivals  in  the  days 
of  our  fathers,  had  now  lost  their  efficacy,  and  would  no 
more  be  blessed  to  that  end  :  and  others  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  say,  our  fathers  did  not  know  how  to  promote  revivals, 
they  did  not  know  how  to  pray,  nor  did  ihey  know  how  to 
preach.  Others  again,  have  thought  that  they  saw  nothing 
new  in  these  measures,  nothing  but  what  they  had  seen 
among  other  denominations  in  their  own  times,  and  had  read 
of  frequently  in  the  history  of  the  church  in  past  ages.  They 
have  recognised,  or  thought  they  recognised,  in  these  new 
measures,  all  the  leading  features  of  those  which  were  pur- 
sued by  Davenport  and  others,  during  the  revival  in  New- 
England,  in  the  days  of  President  Edwards,  and  which  are 
pointed  out,  in  his  Thoughts  on  Revivals,  as  among  the 
things  which  are  to  be  avoided.  The  author  of  this  sermon 
has  been  considered  the  most  promfhent  agent  in  the  intro- 
duction of  these  new  measures,  so  that  they  are  often  called 
by  his  name ;  though  it  is  known  by  many  that  they  had  be- 
gun to  be  used  in  that  region,  among  Presbyterians,  in  some 
degree,  before  he  entered  the  ministry.  These  measures 
have  not,  indeed,  been  adopted  in  every  place  in  that  vici- 
nity, where  there  have  been  revivals  during  the  'past  year. 
It  has  been  understood  that  some  ministers  and  churches 
have  been  opposed  to  them,  and  have  endeavoured  to  keep 
them  out,  as  far  as  possible ;  and  that  others  have  admitted 
them  only  in  part.  And  this  backwardness  of  ministers  and 
Christians  to  admit  them,  has  been  the  subject  of  much  ani- 
madversion, both  from  the  press  and  otherwise.  It  is  well 
known  that  some  of  the  old  and  tried  friends  of  revivals  in 
that  region  have  been  much  blamed  on  this  account,  and 
have  been  represented  as  opposed  to  revivals,  hindering  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  and  strengthening  the  hands  of  the  enemies 
of  religion.  Yet  it  is  believed  that  they  have  generally  borne 
these  reproaches  in  silence,  and  have  been  backward  to  pro- 
claim their  objections.  Indeed,  some  of  them  have  been  so 
backward  to  make  known  their  objections,  that  their  friends 
abroad  have  not  known  that  they  felt  any,  and  in  some  cases 
have  been  led  to  believe  that  they  had  adopted  the  new  mea- 
sures in  full.  The  friends  of  revivals  abroad  have  at  length 
become  alarmed  at  the  evils  which  have  begun  to  reach  them 
from  the  West,  and  have  begun  to  communicate  their  fears, 
and  to  state  their  objections  in  letters  to  their  friends  on  the 
subject.  But  so  persuaded  are  some  that  these  new  measures 
must  be  right,  and  that  all  the  real  friends  of  revivals  must 
approve  of  them,  that  they  are  ready  to  conclude  that  those 


46 

who  are  the  known  friends  of  revivals  abroad  must  have  been 
misinformed,  and  grounded  their  objections  on  exaggerated 
reports  which  have  been  put  in  circulation  by  the  enemy. 
And  though  those  gentlemen  expressly  say  that  they  have 
derived  their  information  from  the  friends  of  the  new  mea- 
sures themselves,  and  from  what  has  come  under  their  own 
personal  observation,  this  does  not  free  those  in  that  region 
who  have  been  known  to  disapprove,  from  the  suspicion  and 
the  charge  of  being  the  source  of  that  misinformation.  From 
the  best  information  I  can  obtain,  I  conclude  that  those  mi- 
nisters and  Christians  who  have  not  approved  of  the  new 
measures,  have  been  the  most  silent  on  the  subject  of  any 
class  of  people  in  the  vicinity  ;  and  I  fully  believe,  that,  when 
the  truth  shall  be  known,  it  will  be  found,  that  the  friends  of 
the  new  measures  have  themselves  done  more  to  spread  the 
knowledge  of  them  abroad,  than  all  other  classes  put  toge- 
ther. Some  that  did  not  approve  have  been  silent,  lest  they 
should  be  thought  to  speak  against  the  work  of  God,  and  be 
proclaimed  as  enemies  to  revivals  ;  and  some  have  thought 
that  the  prejudices  of  many  were  so  strong,  and  there  was  so 
little  disposition  to  make  distinctions,  that  if  they  should  at- 
tempt to  correct  any  evils,  their  intentions  would  be  misun- 
derstood, and  they  should  only  lessen  their  own  usefulness, 
without  the  prospect  of  accomplishing  any  important  good. 
But  those  who  have  not  approved  are  beginning  to  condemn 
themselves  for  the  silence  they  have  maintained,  and  to  ac- 
knowledge it  as  an  error  that  when  they  have  seen  the  evil, 
they  have  suffered  any  considerations  to  deter  them  from 
raising  the  warning  voice.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  publi- 
cation of  this  sermon  will  relieve  them  from  any  remaining 
scruples  they  may  feel,  and  lead  the  way  to  a  full  discussion 
of  the  subject.  It  is  certainly  creditable  to  the  author,  that 
he  has  thus  publicly  taken  the  field,  and  given  so  fair  a  chal- 
lenge to  those  who  object  to  his  measures.  No  objection  can 
henceforth  be  made  by  their  friends,  if  they  are  made  the 
subjects  of  the  closest  scrutiny  ;  for  the  sermon  is  so  open 
and  direct  an  attack  upon  all  those  ministers  and  Christians 
who  do  not  approve  of  the  new  measures,  that  it  will  be  as- 
cribed to  coivardice,  or  to  the  consciousness  of  guilty  if  they 
do  not  speak  in  their  own  defence. 

The  object  of  the  sermon  evidently  is,  to  account  for  the 
opposition  which  is  made  to  the  new  measures,  by  ministers 
and  Christians,  as  well  as  others,  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
that  opposition  a  proof  that  those  measures  are  right,  and 
that  all  who  oppose  them  are  wrong ;  and  especially  that 
those  ministers  and  professed  Christians  who  oppose  them. 


47 

^ive  evidence  by  their  opposition  that  the  state  of  their  hearts 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  impenitent  world. 

The  sum  of  the  argument  is  this  :  Sinners  must  be  most  op- 
posed to  that  which  is  nearest  right :  But  they  are  more  opposed 
to  these  new  measures  than  they  are  to  those  which  others 
use  :  therefore  these  measures  must  be  nearest  right.     And, 

If  ministers  and  professed  Christians  oppose  the  same 
things  that  sinners  do,  and  make  the  same  objections  to  them, 
they  must  feel  just  as  sinners  do ;  but  ministers  and  professed 
Christians  do  oppose  these  new  measures  ;  therefore  the  state 
of  their  hearts  is  the  same  as  that  of  impenitent  sinners,  and 
they  are  either  hypocrites,  or  so  cold  hearted  and  dead,  that 
there  is  no  present  difference  in  moral  character  between 
them  and  the  impenitent  world,  and  they  ought  to  be  so  con- 
sidered, and  treated  accordingly. 

This  appears  through  the  whole  discourse,  and  will  be  seen 
in  the  following  extracts  :  Page  6.  "  We  see  why  lukewarm 
professors  and  impenitent  sinners  have  the  same  difficulties 
with  means  in  revivals  of  religion.  We  often  hear  them  com- 
plain of  the  manner  of  preaching  and  praying.  Their  objec- 
tions are  the  same,  they  find  fault  with  the  same  things,  and 
use  the  same  arguments  in  support  of  their  objections. 
The  reason  is,  that  at  that  time,  their  affections  are  nearly 
the  same  ;  it  is  the  fire  and  the  spirit  that  disturbs  their  frosty 
hearts.  For  the  time  being,  they  walk  together,  for  in  feel- 
ing they  are  agreed."  Page  7.  "  We  see  why  ministers  and 
Christians  visiting  revivals,  often,  at  first,  raise  objections  to 
the  means  used,  and  cavil,  and  sometimes  take  sides  with 
the  wicked."  "  While  their  hearts  remain  wrongs  they  will,  of 
course,  cavil ;  and  the  nearer  right  any  thing  is,  the  more 
spiritual  and  holy,  so  much  the  more  it  must  displease  them, 
while  ihe'ir  affections grovcV  P^gc  12.  "That  excitement 
which  does  not  call  out  the  opposition  of  the  wicked  and 
wrong-hearted,  is  either  not  a  revival  of  religion  at  all,  or  it 
is  so  conducted  that  sinners  do  not  see  the  finger  of  God  in 
it."  "  The  more  pure  and  holy  the  means  are  that  are  used 
to  promote  a  revival  of  religion,  so  much  the  more,  of  neces- 
sity^ will  they  excite  the  opposition  of  all  lorong  hearts.'''' 
"  If  the  matter  of  preaching  is  right,  and  the  sinner  is  pleased, 
there  is  something  defective  in  the  manner. ^^  Page  13. 
"  The  more  right  and  holy  feeling  there  is,  the  more  wrong 
and  unholy  feehng  there  will  be,  of  course."  Page  IG.  "  If 
we  walk  with  the  lukewarm  and  ungodly,  or  they  with  i/5,  it 
is  because  we  are  agreed ;  for  two  cannot  walk  together  ex- 
cept they  he  agreed.''''  Page  9.  "  We  see  why  ministers  are 
sometimes  unsettled  by  revivals."  He  supposes  the  minister 
may  awake,  while  the  church  will  not,  or  that  the  church 


4S 

may  awake,  while  the  minister  will  not.  Page  10.  "  In  either 
of  these  cases,  they  may  find  themselves  unable  to  walk  to- 
gether, becaifse  they  are  not  agreed.  In  the  former  case,  let 
the  minister  obey  the  command  of  Christ,  and  '  shake  off  the 
dust  of  his  feet  for  a  testimony  against  them.'  In  the  latter, 
let  the  church  shake  off  their  sleepy  minister  ;  they  are  better 
without  him,  than  with  him." 

These  extracts  I  think  clearly  show,  that  the  object  of  the 
discourse  is  as  before  stated,  to  prove  that  the  new  measures 
are  nearest  right,  because  they  are  most  opposed ;  and  that 
those  ministers  and  Christians  who  oppose  them,  thereby  give 
evidence  that  they  are  agreed  in  heart  with  the  impenitent 
world,  and  should  be  treated  accordingly. 

The  whole  argument  is  highly  sophistical,  and  the  main 
conclusions  of  the  discourse  entirely  unwarranted ;  yet  the 
prejudices  of  many  readers  are  no  doubt  so  strongly  enlisted  in 
favour  of  the  author's  system,  that  they  will  think  it  a  finished 
piece  of  sound  reasoning,  and  the  conclusions  supported  by 
irrefragable  arguments.  A  few  words  might  suffice  to  expose 
its  sophistry  to  those  whose  minds  are  unbiassed  ;  but  a  more 
extended  examination  is  doubtless  expedient,  for  the  sake  of 
such  as  are  predisposed  to  embrace  any  thing  the  author  may 
advance. 

And  perhaps  it  may  tend  to  convince  some  that  the  rea- 
soning is  unsound,  even  though  they  should  not  be  able  to 
discover  wherein,  to  let  them  see  a  few  other  conclusions 
which  the  same  kind  of  reasoning  would  equally  support. — 
Take  the  following : 

Some  impenitent  sinners  are  greatly  displeased  with  the 
new  measures  for  promoting  revivals ;  some  professed  Chris- 
tians and  ministers  are  greatly  displeased  with  them  also : 
therefore,  it  is  concluded,  they  are  walking  together,  because 
they  are  agreed^  and  are  both  equally  wrong.  This  is  the 
author's  argument;  but  it  will  prove  the  contrary,  just  as 
well.     For, 

Some  impenitent  sinners  are  much  taken  with  the  new 
measures,  and  are  very  anxious  to  have  them  introduced  ; 
some  professed  Christians  are  also  much  taken  with  them, 
and  are  as  anxious  to  have  them  introduced :  therefore,  they 
are  walking  together,  because  they  are  agreed,  and  are  both 
equally  wrong. 

Again,  some  professed  Christians  are  pleased  to  hear  a 
man  preach,  who  treats  his  subjects  in  a  clear,  argumenta- 
tive manner,  though  he  is  not  very  forcible  in  his  delivery ; 
some  impenitent  sinners  are  also  pleased  to  hear  him  :  there- 
fore, it  is  concluded,  they  are  walking  together,  because  they 
are  agreed,  and  are  both  equally  wrong.     But, 


49 

Some  professed  Christians  are  displeased  when  they  hear 
such  a  preacher,  and  complain  of  him  as  "  a  dull  man ;" 
some  impenitent  sinners  are  also  displeased,  and  make  the 
same  complaint :  therefore,  they  are  walking  together,  be- 
cause they  are  agreed^  and  are  both  equally  wrong. 

Again,  some  professed  Christians  wish  to  have  the  doctrines 
of  the  gospel  fully  and  clearly  preached,  and  are  best  pleased 
with  such  preaching ;  some  impenitent  sinners  also  wish  the 
doctrines  preached,  and  are  best  pleased  with  such  preach- 
ing :  therefore,  it  is  concluded,  they  are  walking  together, 
because  they  are  agreed^  and  are  both  equally  wrong.     But, 

Some  professed  Christians  are  very  unwilling  to  have  the 
doctrines  of  the  bible  dwelt  upon,  and  are  always  displeased 
with  such  preaching ;  some  impenitent  sinners  are  also  un- 
willing to  have  those  doctrines  dwelt  upon,  and  are  always 
displeased  with  such  preaching  :  therefore  they  are  walking 
together,  because  they  are  a^ree^,and  are  both  equally  wrong. 

These  examples  may  suffice  to  show  how  the  method  of 
argumentation  adopted  in  the  sermon  will  support  opposite 
conclusions  equally  well.  A  few  other  examples  will  show 
how  the  same  method  of  reasoning  will  support  some  con- 
clusions which  would  be  as  offensive  to  the  friends  of  the 
new  measures,  as  some  of  these  which  are  drawn  in  the  ser- 
mon are  to  others.     Take  the  following : 

Impenitent  sinners  always  pray  for  their  own  salvation 
taithout  submission  ;  it  is  an  essential  ingredient  in  the  pray- 
ers of  some  at  this  day,  that  they  be  made  without  submission : 
therefore  they  walk  together,  because  they  are  agreed. 

Some  individuals  now  venture  to  predict  certain  future 
events,  in  consequence  of  impressions  which  they  suppose 
have  been  made  on  their  minds  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  Stork, 
Munzer,  and  their  associates,  in  the  days  of  Luther,  did  the 
same ;  therefore  they  walk  together,  because  they  are 
agreed. 

Stork,  Munzer,  and  their  associates,  denounced  Luther  and 
Calvin  as  carnal,  unconverted  men,  and  strangers  to  the  in- 
fluences of  the  Spirit,  because  they  opposed  their  wild  and 
extravagant  notions  and  practices ;  some,  in  these  days,  do 
the  same,  in  respect  to  those  ministers  who  are  most  like  Lu- 
ther and  Calvin,  in  their  sentiments  and  practice  ;  therefore 
they  walk  together,  because  they  arc  agreed. 

Some  fanatical  sects  have  been  in  the  habit  of  encouraging 
outward  bodily  expressions  of  feeling,  and  attaching  great 
importance  to  them,  such  as  groaning  aloud  in  time  of  prayer, 
falling  down,  rolling  about,  and  the  like,  and  speaking  of 
them  as  evidences  of  the  special  and  powerful  influences  of 

7 


60 

the  Spirit ;  some  in  these  days  do  the  same :  therefore  they 
walk  together,  because  they  are  agreed. 

Some  fanatical  and  disorderly  persons  in  former  times, 
have  thought  it  highly  meritorious,  to  crowd  themselves  into 
the  parishes  of  settled  ministers,  and  introduce  such  mea- 
sures as  were  adapted  to  promote  discord  and  strife  ;  some 
in  these  days  think  the  same  ;  therefore  they  walk  together, 
because  they  are  agreed. 

The  Pharisees  prayed  long  and  loud,  so  as  to  attract  the 
notice  of  men  in  the  streets ;  some  in  these  days  do  the  same : 
therefore  they  walk  together,  because  they  are  agreed. 

The  Pharisees  compassed  sea  and  land  to  make  proselytes 
to  their  pecuHarities  ;  some  in  these  days  do  the  same  :  there- 
fore they  walk  together,  because  they  are  agreed. 

A  person  under  the  influence  of  an  evil  spirit  followed 
Paul  and  his  company,  with  the  cry,  "  these  men  are  the  ser- 
vants of  the  most  high  God  ;"  some  follow  certain  preachers 
now  with  the  same  cry :  therefore  they  are  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  same  evil  spirit,  and  walk  together,  because  they 
are  agreed. 

Such  deductions  as  these,  are  made  after  the  method  of 
reasoning  pursued  in  the  sermon  ;  and  they  might  be  multi- 
plied to  an  indefinite  extent.  If  these  examples  should  serve 
to  convince  any  that  the  method  of  reasoning  is  unsound, 
and  will  equally  support  truth  and  falsehood,  and  equally 
prove  both  sides  of  a  contradiction,  my  purpose  will  be  an- 
swered. I  am  not  weak  enough  to  suppose  that  such  argu- 
mentation will  fasten  any  of  these  conclusions  upon  the 
friends  of  the  new  measures ;  my  object  is  to  show  them  the 
fallacy  of  the  reasoning  by  which  the  conclusions  of  the  ser- 
mon are  attempted  to  be  fastened  upon  others. 

But  the  foundation  of  the  author's  argument  must  be  ex- 
amined. It  is  assumed  that  the  reasons  why  ministers  and 
Christians  oppose  the  new  measures,  are  the  same  as  the  rea- 
sons why  the  impenitent  oppose  them.  He  says,  "  their  ob- 
jections are  the  same^  they  find  fault  with  the  same  things,  and 
use  the  same  arguments  in  support  of  their  objections."  "  It 
is  the  fire  and  the  spirit  that  disturbs  their  frosty  hearts*. 
For  the  time  being,  they  walk  together,  for,  in  feelings  they 
are  agreed." — So  important  a  part  of  the  argument  as  this, 
and  one  on  which  the  conclusions  so  essentially  depend, 
should  not  have  been  taken  for  granted,  nor  have  been  left 
to  depend  upon  the  naked  assertion  of  any  man.  It  should 
have  been  proved,  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  the 
objections  of  Christians  and  the  objections  of  the  impenitent 
are  precisely  the  same ;  and  are  not  only  supported  by  the 
same  arguments  ostensibly,  but  must  and  do  arise  from  the 


51 

isame  state  of  heart.  Ministers  and  Christians  should  not 
have  been  thus  classed  with  the  openly  irreligious,  while  there 
is  any  room  to  suppose  they  maij  have  difterent  reasons  for 
their  opposition  ;  or  while  the  impenitent  may  have  any  good 
reasons  for  theirs. 

It  should  not  be  thought,  that  the  single  fact,  if  it  were  a 
fact,  of  their  being  opposed  to  the  same  things,  is  sufficient 
proof.  Men  are  often  opposed  to  the  same  things,  for  very 
different  reasons.  A  man  may  be  a  candidate  for  the  office 
of  chief  magistrate  of  our  nation,  and  have  great  numbers 
of  individuals  opposed  to  him,  for  reasons  widely  different 
from  each  other.  One  may  think  he  has  injured  him,  and  be 
opposed  from  personal  resentment.  Another  may  think  he 
has  personal  advantages  to  expect  from  the  elevation  of  his 
competitor.  Another  may  think  his  competitor  will  pursue 
measures  more  for  the  interest  of  the  particular  section  of  the 
nation  in  which  he  resides.  Another  may  think  the  candi- 
date is  incompetent  in  point  of  talent  and  experience.  Ano- 
ther may  be  displeased  with  some  vicious  habits  he  believes 
him  to  indulge.  And  a  Christian  may  be  opposed  because 
he  thinks  him  a  man  void  of  religious  principle,  and  not  hav- 
ing the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes.  Many  other  reasons 
might  be  mentioned,  by  which  those  numerous  individuals 
are  influenced  to  unite  in  their  opposition  to  the  same  candi- 
date. The  fact,  then,  that  they  agree  in  opposing  the  same 
candidate,  is  no  proof  of  any  likeness  of  character  between 
themselves,  unless  they  are  opposed  for  the  same  reasons. 

Are  the  impenitent,  then,  and  many  ministers  and  Chris- 
tians, opposed  to  the  new  measures  for  promoting  revivals, 
for  the  same  reasons  ?  This  is  asserted  ;  and  they  have  been 
abundantly  classed  together,  by  the  friends  of  the  new  mea- 
sures, on  this  very  ground.  It  should  not  be  concluded  that 
the  fact,  if  it  were  a  fact,  of  their  using  "  the  same  arguments 
in  support  of  their  objections,''  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  the 
reasons  why  they  are  opposed  are  the  same ;  nor,  if  some  of 
them  are  the  same,  that  they  arc  all  the  same.  They  may 
have  more  reasons,  in  their  own  minds,  than  they  think  it  ne- 
cessary to  give,  on  every  occasion.  For  instance,  an  impe- 
nitent sinner  may  feel  opposed  in  heart  to  the  doctrine  of  to- 
tal depravity.  That  doctrine  may  be  exhibited  to  him  in  a 
manner  that  is  peculiarly  and  unnecessarily  offensive.  He  is 
displeased  at  the  doctrine  itself,  and  he  is  displeased  also  at 
the  offensive  manner  in  which  it  was  presented.  He  may  not 
choose  to  complain  of  the  doctrine  itself,  but  only  of  the 
manner.  A  Christian  who  heard  it,  though  he  cordially  re- 
ceives the  doctrine,  might  think  the  manner  highly  improper, 
and  make  the  same  complaint.     Does  the  fact,  in  this  case, 


52 

of  their  making  the  same  objection,  prove  a  likeness  of  cha- 
racter between  them  ?  Such  a  conclusion  would  certainly 
be  unfounded.  It  ought  first  to  be  proved  that  the  manner 
was  right,  or  that  the  Christian  was  as  really  offended  with 
the  doctrine  itself,  as  the  sinner  was,  before  such  a  conclusion 
can  be  drawn.  Suppose  a  sinner  is  conversed  with,  who  as- 
sents to  the  truth  of  all  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  but  ac- 
knowledges himself  an  impenitent  sinner :  and  he  is  told, 
"  he  is  as  orthodox  as  the  devil,"  but  "  his  character  is  as 
black  as  hell,"  and  "  if  he  does  not  repent  to-day  he  will  be 
in  hell  to-morrow;"  he  will  probably  be  displeased,  and 
make  objections  to  this  treatment.  And  what  objections 
will  he  state  ?  He  will  probably  object,  that  such  language 
is  harsh,  unkind,  not  expressive  of  benevolent  feehng,  and 
savouring  of  profaneness ;  and  that,  in  the  prediction,  the 
man  is  telling  more  than  he  knows.  And  if  a  Christian,  who 
should  hear  it,  should  make  the  same  objections,  would  it 
prove  him  to  be  of  the  same  character  as  the  impenitent  sin- 
ner ?  If  I  should  tell  a  child,  "  not  to  follow  his  ungodly  pa- 
rents, who  were  leading  him  to  hell ;  not  to  listen  to  their  in- 
structions, which  will  destroy  his  soul ;  that  his  parents  are 
so  wicked,  he  had  better  leave  them,  and  live  with  me,  and  I 
will  take  him  with  me  to  heaven  ;"  the  parents  would  proba- 
bly be  displeased,  and  make  objections  to  such  treatment. 
And  what  objections  would  they  state  ?  They  would  proba- 
bly object,  that  it  would  be  more  proper  to  tell  parents  their 
own  faults,  than  to  tell  them  to  their  children ;  that  such 
treatment  is  adapted  to  alienate  the  afiections  of  children 
from  their  parents,  break  up  families,  and  teach  children  to 
disregard  the  fifth  commandment,  which  requires  children  to 
love  and  honour  their  parents.  And  if  a  Christian,  who 
should  hear  all  this,  should  make  the  same  objections,  would 
it  prove  him  to  be  of  the  same  character  as  the  impenitent 
sinner?  If  an  impenitent  sinner  should  be  prayed  for  by 
name,  at  a  public  meeting,  and  the  occasion  should  be  em- 
braced to  hold  him  up  to  public  notice,  as  an  uncommonly 
odious  and  abandoned  character,  and  to  tell  God  and  the 
world  all  the  bad  things  that  have  been  known  or  thought 
about  him,  it  would  probably  give  offence  to  him  and  his 
friends.  And  what  objections  would  they  state?  They 
would  probably  say,  that  such  treatment  was  abusive  and 
defamatory,  and  not  adapted  to  do  the  individual  any  good. 
And  if  a  Christian  should  happen  to  feel  and  express  the 
same  opinion  of  it,  would  that  be  a  conclusive  proof  that  he 
is  of  the  same  character  with  the  impenitent  ?  If  a  minister 
of  the  gospel  should  happen  to  be  such  an  one  as  Paul  re- 
quires all  to  be,  having  "  a  good  report  of  them  which  are 


53 

without,"  and  one  that,  by  a  long  Hfe  of  uniform  piety,  had 
commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  even  of  the  uncon- 
verted part  of  his  congregation ;  and  he  should  be  publicly 
prayed  for,  by  some  stranger,  as  "  an  old  grey-headed  apos- 
tate, who  was  leading  souls  to  hell,"  or  as  "  the  head  Achan 
in  the  camp  of  the  Lord  ;"  it  is  probable  some  of  the  uncon- 
verted would  be  offended  at  it,  as  well  as  some  of  the  church ; 
and  that  both  would  complain  that  their  aged  pastor  should 
be  treated  with  such  indignity ;  and  if  it  should  happen,  that 
"  their  objections  should  be  the  same,"  and  that  they  should 
"  use  the  same  arguments  in  support  of  them,"  would  it  cer- 
tainly prove  that  they  were  all  alike  in  their  moral  character  ? 
If  a  preacher  should,  in  a  public  assembly,  in  the  presence  of 
ministers  and  others,  exhort  the  females  to  lead  in  prayer, 
and  represent  them  as  grieving  the  Spirit  by  refusing ;  and 
not  prevailing  by  arguments,  should  drop  on  his  knees  and 
tell  the  Lord  how  proud  they  were,  because  they  would  not 
comply,  and  then  repeat  his  exhortations ;  and  if  the  fear  of 
resisting  the  Spirit,  or  of  being  thought  proud,  should  prevail 
with  some  to  comply,  the  whole  transaction  would  probably 
be  objected  to  by  their  impenitent  friends.  And  what  would 
they  say  ?  They  would  be  likely  to  quote  the  apostolic  pro- 
hibition, "  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches ;  for 
it  is  not  permitted  unto  them  to  speak."  And  if  it  should  so 
happen  that  some  Christians  too  should  think  the  practice 
was  forbidden,  and  should  quote  the  same  direction  of  the 
apostle,  would  it  certainly  prove  that  they  were  of  the  same 
moral  character  with  those  impenitent  friends  ? 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  if  ministers  and  Christians  did 
"  find  fault  with  the  same  things,  and  use  the  same  argu- 
ments in  support  of  their  objections"  that  the  impenitent  do, 
it  would  not  be  sufficient  to  prove  a  likeness  of  character  be- 
tween them,  unless  it  were  first  proved  that  the  things  ob- 
jected to  are  right,  and  that  all  the  reasons  why  both  classes 
objected  were  the  same.  Let  it  first  be  shown  that  the  mea- 
sures objected  to  are  right,  and  that  there  can  be  none  but 
sinful  objections  made  against  them ;  and  then  let  it  be 
shown  that  the  objections  which  ministers  and  Christians 
make  are  the  same  in  all  respects,  not  only  as  those  which 
the  impenitent  avow,  but  as  those  which  they  inwardly  feel ; 
and  something  will  be  done  towards  laying  a  foundation  for 
the  conclusion  that  there  is  some  likeness  of  character  be- 
tween them. 

But  I  am  disposed  to  question  the  fact,  that  the  objections 
which  ministers  and  Christians  make  to  the  new  measures 
arc,  in  general,  the  same  as  those  which  the  impenitent 
make.     To  many  of  them,  I  have  no  doubt  they  are,  in  part, 


54 

the  same.  For  wherever  the  impenitent  discover  any  thing 
in  professors  of  rehgion  vv^hich  is  really  v^^rong,  they  can,  if 
they  please,  bring  solid  objections  against  it,  and  support 
them  bv  sound  arguments  both  from  reason  and  scripture. 
Some  of  the  unconverted  are  men  of  good  sense,  and  have 
sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  scriptures  to  form  a  pretty 
accurate  judgment  whether  the  conduct  of  Christians  is  con- 
sistent with  their  profession  or  not.  And  some  of  them  are 
men  of  good  breeding,  and  are  disgusted  with  whatever  vio- 
lates the  common  rules  of  propriety,  wherever  they  see  it. 
If,  therefore,  in  some  things,  their  judgment  should  accord 
with  that  of  ministers  and  Christians,  it  is  no  sufficient  rea- 
son why  reproaches  should  be  cast  upon  either. 

A  brief  statement  of  the  most  common  objections  which  I 
have  heard  made,  by  both  classes,  against  the  new  measures, 
will  show  how  far  they  agree.  Those  out  of  the  church  have 
complained  of  harsh  and  uncivil  treatment  in  conversation, 
being  called  by  hard  names,  and  provoking  epithets,  and  ad- 
dressed with  coarseness  and  vulgarity,  and  in  a  manner  which 
they  deemed  insolent,  overbearing  and  insulting.  They  have 
complained  of  being  spoken  of  to  others  in  terms  which  they 
consider  defamatory  and  abusive.  They  have  complained 
that  their  children  were  unreasonably  frightened,  by  being 
threatened  with  immediate  and  inevitable  damnation,  and 
told  that  there  was  no  help  for  them.  Tiiey  have  complained 
that  their  children  should  be  told  such  things  about  their  pa- 
rents as  were  adapted  to  alienate  their  affections,  and  lead 
them  to  be  disrespectful  towards  their  parents.  They  have 
found  fault  with  the  personality  of  public  preaching,  by  which 
the  attention  of  the  congregation  was  directed  to  particular 
individuals,  as  persons  of  an  uncommonly  odious  character. 
They  have  complained  of  being  prayed  for  by  name  in  a 
manner  which  they  considered  slanderous  and  abusive. 
Some  have  taken  offence  at  what  they  considered  an  irreve- 
rent use  of  the  name  of  God,  and  a  familiar  use  of  the  words 
devil^  hell,  cursed^  damned,  and  the  like,  in  a  manner  which 
they  thought  resembled  the  more  vulgar  sort  of  profane 
swearing.  Some  have  been  disgusted  with  what  appeared  to 
them  an  irreverent  boldness  and  familiarity  with  God  in 
prayer,  which  shocked  their  feelings.  Some  have  objected 
that  the  subject  of  religion  should  be  so  much  urged  upon 
them.  And  some  have  complained  that  the  doctrines  of 
Calvinism  should  be  so  vehemently  pressed,  and  especially 
that  of  total  depravity ;  and  that  so  little  charity  should  be 
expressed  for  other  denominations.  The  principal  reasons 
they  have  given  why  they  objected  to  these  things,  have 
been,  that  they  felt  themselves  unreasonably  crowded  upon 


55 

and  ill-treated,  that  their  sense  of  propriety  was  outraged, 
and  that  they  thought  these  things  improper.  And  it  has 
been  said,  "  If  this  is  religion,  I  want  no  such  religion." 

Now,  is  it  certain  that  these  complaints  have  been  made 
by  the  unconverted  solely  from  their  dislike  of  the  religion  of 
the  gospel  ?  Has  there  been  no  other  foundation  for  any  of 
them  ?  Have  they  been  made  solely  because  the  holy,  hea- 
venly temper  of  the  gospel  has  been  so  clearly  exhibited  be- 
fore them,  in  all  its  native  loveliness,  as  it  appeared  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  breathing  good  will  to  man,  and  express- 
ing all  the  meekness,  and  gentleness,  and  kindness,  and  for- 
bearance towards  them  which  is  required  in  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  and  elsewhere  ?  The  fact  that  such  objections 
are  made  by  the  impenitent  against  the  new  measures,  more 
than  against  the  measures  previously  in  use,  will  not  be  al- 
lowed to  be,  of  itself,  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  new  mea- 
sures are  the  nearest  right. 

But  it  is  not  my  present  purpose  to  show  that  these  com- 
plaints are,  or  are  not,  made  on  good  grounds.  It  is  simply 
to  show,  that  the  complaints  of  the  unconverted  and  those  of 
Christians  and  ministers,  have  not  been  all  the  same,  and 
made  for  the  same  reasons. 

Ministers  and  Christians  have,  indeed,  complained  of  some 
of  the  things  above  mentioned.  They  have  complained  of  a 
harsh  and  overbearing  treatment  of  the  unconverted,  not  only 
because  they  thought  it  improper,  but  because  they  thought 
it  adapted  to  harden  them,  and  shut  up  the  way  of  access  to 
their  consciences.  They  have  not  been  unwilling  to  have 
children  and  youth  conversed  with  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
and  made  to  see  their  true  state  and  character ;  but  they 
have  thought  a  great  and  sudden  excitement  of  their  fears 
not  likely  to  lead  them  to  such  an  attention  to  the  state  of 
their  own  hearts,  as  would  be  adapted  to  do  any  permanent 
good ;  and  especially  when  it  was  produced  by  unwarranta- 
ble declarations  of  immediate  and  inevitable  damnation, 
which  a  few  days  might  suffice  to  show  them  were  not  true : 
and  they  feared  that  such  things  would  lead  them  to  treat  the 
sober  warnings  of  the  scriptures  with  contempt.  They  have 
thought  that  it  was  wrong,  under  the  colour  of  performing 
any  other  religious  duty,  to  teach  children  to  disregard  the 
fifth  commandment.  They  have  been  oflended  at  an  irreve- 
rent use  of  the  Divine  name,  because  they  thought  it  a  breach 
of  the  third  commandment  ;  and  have  been  displeased  with 
the  familiar  use  of  other  common  terms  of  profaneness,  be- 
cause they  thought  it  must  produce  some  of  the  same  effect 
that  profane  swearing  does.  They  have  been  disgusted  with 
the  appearance  of  irreverent  boldness,  and  the  afi'ectation  of 


56 

familiarity  with  God  in  prayer,  because  they  thought  it  in* 
consistent  with  proper  feelings  of  respect  towards  him,  and 
that  awe  of  the  Divine  Majesty  which  holy  beings  express. 
They  have  not  been  afraid  that  the  subject  of  religion  would 
be  too  much  urged  upon  men,  if  it  were  only  done  with  that 
kindness  of  feeling  which  would  leave  the  door  open  for  its 
being  repeated.  They  have  not  complained  that  the  doc- 
trines of  Calvinism  were  too  much  or  too  clearly  preached, 
nor  that  too  much  importance  was  attached  to  them,  nor  that 
too  little  charity  was  expressed  for  such  as  understandingly 
and  cordially  reject  them.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  a  se- 
rious objection  with  many,  that  those  doctrines  have  not  been 
preached  so  clearly  and  fully  as  they  thought  important. 
They  have  been  grieved  that  those  who  did  urge  them  plainly 
and  fully,  should  be  charged  with  hindering  revivals  by 
preaching  them ;  and  that  orthodoxy  should  be  made  a  term 
of  reproach.  They  have  objected,  that  people  were  not  suf- 
ficiently instructed  ;  that  the  distinction  between  true  and 
false  experience  should  be  overlooked,  or  little  thought  of; 
and  that  the  disposition  to  make  a  distinction  between  genu- 
ine and  spurious  revivals,  should  be  frowned  upon  as  a  mark 
of  being  in  a  cold  and  stupid  state.  They  have  complained 
that  the  most  uniform  and  consistent  Christians  should  be 
pronounced  cold,  and  stupid,  and  dead,  because  they  did  not 
alter  as  much  as  others ;  and  that,  too,  in  many  cases,  by 
those  who  had  as  yet  had  no  opportunity  from  personal  ex- 
amination to  know  any  thing  of  the  state  of  their  minds. 
They  have  been  grieved  that  the  best  friends  of  revivals,  as 
they  have  hitherto  witnessed  them,  should  be  denounced  as 
enemies  because  they  did  not  fall  in  with  the  new  measures, 
and  that  those  whose  age  and  experience  had  given  them  op- 
portunity to  be  most  and  longest  acquainted  with  revivals, 
should  be  put  down,  by  the  converts  of  a  few  days  old,  as  to- 
tally ignorant  on  the  subject.  They  have  complained  that 
aged  ministers,  of  tried  and  approved  piety,  should  be  pub- 
licly prayed  for,  by  young  men  and  boys,  as  old  hypocrites 
or  apostates,  who  were  "leading  souls  to  hell."  Some 
have  objected  to  female  prayer  and  exhortation  in  mixed  as- 
semblies, because  they  thought  it  forbidden  in  the  scriptures, 
and  adapted  to  destroy  that  silent,  unobtrusive  influence 
which  it  is  so  desirable  that  the  female  members  of  the  church 
should  exert,  and  which  can  be  best  exerted  in  the  sphere 
in  which  God  has  placed  them.  Some  have  objected  to  the 
confidence  which  appeared  to  be  placed  in  impulses  and  im- 
pressions, especially  as  connected  with  the  supposed  prayer 
of  faith,  because  they  thought  it  contrary  to  the  scriptures, 
and  adapted  to  open  a  wide  door  to  the  delusions  of  Satan. 


57 

Some  have  thought  the  young  were  put  forward,  to  their  own 
injury,  and  the  older  members  of  the  church,  whose  age  and 
experience  quahfied  them  to  lead,  were  too  manifestly  put  in 
the  back  ground ;  and  that  old  people  in  general  were  often 
treated  with  great  disrespect,  in  direct  violation  of  the  Di- 
vine command,  "  thou  shalt  rise  up  before  the  hoary  head, 
and  honour  the  face  of  the  old  man."  Some  have  complain- 
ed of  the  disposition  of  those  who  adopted  the  new  measures 
to  crowd  them  into  every  place,  regardless  of  the  divisions 
and  contentions  to  which  they  seemed  likely  to  give  rise  ; 
and  of  the  disposition  of  some  to  intermeddle  in  the  concerns 
of  other  churches  to  which  they  did  not  belong.  Some  have 
complained  of  the  stress  which  was  laid  upon  the  posture  m 
prayer,  while  so  little  regard  appeared  to  be  paid  to  the  culti- 
vation of  that  meek,  humble,  modest,  retiring  spirit,  which  is 
so  essential  to  the  right  performance  of  that  duty.  Some 
have  complained  that  secret  prayer  should  be  made  so  loud 
as  to  attract  the  notice  of  people  in  the  streets,  because  they 
thought  it  too  much  hke  that  praying  in  the  streets  which  our 
Lord  reproves.  Some  have  thought  it  wrong  to  pray  that  indi- 
viduals might  be  converted  or  removed,  and  especially,  that 
"  God  would  seal  the  damnation  of  sinners  this  night."  Some 
have  objected  to  the  principle  that  the  feelings  ought  to  con- 
trol the  judgment ;  and  that  because  any  measure  contribu- 
ted to  produce  very  pleasant  feelings  in  us,  it  was  therefore 
right.  Some  have  thought  it  wrong  to  consider  success  an 
evidence  of  Divine  approbation,  lest  it  should  lead  us  to  prac- 
tise deception,  as  Jacob  did,  in  order  to  secure  a  good  ob- 
ject. Some  have  been  disgusted  with  the  ostentation,  and 
boasting,  and  self-conceit^  which  they  have  witnessed,  be- 
cause they  thought  them  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
the  'gospel.  Some  have  complained,  that  when  evils  were 
pointed  out,  there  was  no  regard  paid  to  their  warnings,  but 
the  same  things  were  repeated,  and  carried  to  greater  lengths 
than  before.  And  some  have  been  distressed  at  the  appear- 
ance  they  saw  of  a  disposition  to  have  some  men^s  "persons 
in  admiration,"  as  if  they  only  were  the  instruments  through 
which  any  good  could  be  expected  from  Divine  ordinances, 
and  the  only  medium  through  which  the  Holy  Spirit  could 
be  communicated  ;  and  the  apparent  determination  to  deny 
or  justify  every  thing  for  which  they  were  complained  of,  let 
it  be  what  it  might.  But  the  principal  complaint,  and  one 
which  has  embraced  all  the  rest,  has  been,  that  the  whole 
system  of  measures  appeared  to  be  adapted  to  promote  false 
conversions,  to  strengthen  and  cherish  false  hopes,  and  pro- 
pagate a  false  religion ;  and  thus,  besides  destroying  the 
souls  of  those  who  should  be  the  subjects  of  it,  these  mea- 

8 


5S 

sures  should  tend  ultimately  to  bring  all  true  religion,  and  all 
pure  revivals  into  contempt,  and  increase  the  number  of  er- 
rorists  and  scoffers  on  every  side. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  objections  to  the  new  mea- 
sures which  I  have  heard  among  ministers  and  Christians, 
And  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  are  very  far  from  being  pre- 
cisely the  same  objections,  and  founded  upon  precisely  the 
same  reasons,  as  the  objections  of  the  impenitent.  No ;  they 
are  grounded  on  the  love  of  the  truth,  or  a  regard  for  the 
honour  of  God,  and  the  good  of  souls,  and  on  a  most  anxious 
solicitude  for  the  permanent  good  character  and  influence  of 
revivals,  and  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the 
earth.  And  nothing  can  be  more  unjust  and  injurious,  than 
because  they  make  these  objections,  even  if  they  are  in  a 
mistake  in  making  them,  to  class  them  with  the  ungodly 
world,  and  represent  them  as  walking  together,  because  they 
are  agreed. 

Having  made  these  remarks  upon  the  general  object  of  the 
sermon,  and  having  shown  the  fallacy  of  the  main  point  as- 
sumed, that  the  objections  which  ministers  and  Christians 
make  to  the  new  measures  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  im- 
penitent, and  grounded  on  the  same  reasons,  and  having  thus 
exposed  the  unsoundness  of  the  argument,  and  shown  that 
the  main  point  to  be  supported  is  Vvithout  foundation,  and 
that  there  is  yet  no  proof  of  a  likeness  of  character  between 
the  two  classes  of  objectors  to  the  new  system,  I  proceed  to 
a  more  particular  examination  of  the  several  parts  of  the 
sermon. 

That  which  may  be  styled  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  ser- 
mon is  the  author's  illustration  of  the  declaration  of  the  text, 
that  two  cannot  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed.  He 
thinks  it  is  an  agreement  in  feeling.  And  though  the  text 
means  God  and  man,  his  purpose  requires  him  to  consider  it 
as  spoken  of  one  man  walking  with  another. — The  following 
extracts  will  give  his  view  of  it : 

Page  3 — 6.  "  All  pleasure  and  pain — all  happiness  and 
misery,  belong  to  the  mind — all  sin  and  holiness  have  their 
seat  in,  and  belong  to  the  heart  or  afiections.  All  the  satis- 
faction or  dissatisfaction,  pain  or  pleasure,  that  we  feel  in 
view  of  any  truth  or  thing  presented  to  our  minds,  depends 
entirely  upon  the  actings  of  our  affections  at  the  time,  and 
consists  in  these  actings.  If  it  fall  in  with,  and  excite,  and 
feed,  pleasurable  affections,  we  are  pleased  of  course ;  for 
in  these  pleasurable  affections  our  pleasure  or  happiness  con- 
sists. The  higher,  therefore,  these  affections  are  elevated  by 
the  presentation  of  any  thing  or  truth  to  our  minds,  the 
greater  our  pleasure  is.     But  if  the  thing  or  truth  do  not  fal 


59- 

in  with  our  affections,  it  cannot  please  us ;  if  it  be  aside  from 
our  present  state  of  feeling,  and  our  affections  refuse  to  fol- 
low^ we  shall  either  view  it  with  indifference,  our  affections 
being  otherwise  engaged,  or  if  it  press  upon  us,  we  shall  turn 
from  and  resist  it."  "  If  the  subject  be  exhibited  in  a  light 
that  is  below  our  present  tone  of  feeling,  we  cannot  be  inter- 
ested, until  it  comes  up  to  our  feelings  /  if  this  does  not  take 
place,  we  necessarily  remain  uninterested  ;  and  if  the  sub- 
ject, in  this  cooling,  and  to  us,  degraded  point  of  view,  is  held 
up  before  our  mind,  and  our  affections  struggle  to  maintain 
their  height,  we  feel  displeased,  because  our  affections  are 
not  fed,  but  opposed.  If  the  subject  be  presented  in  a  man- 
ner that  strikes  far  above  our  tone  of  feeling,  and  our  affec- 
tions grovel,  and  refuse  to  rise,  it  does  not  fall  in  with  and 
feed  our  affections,  therefore  we  cannot  be  interested ;  it  is 
enthusiasm  to  us,  we  are  displeased  with  the  warmth  in 
which  our  affections  refuse  to  participate ;  and  the  farther  it 
is  above  our  temperature,  the  more  we  are  disgusted.  These 
are  truths  to  which  the  experience  of  every  man  will  testify, 
as  they  hold  good  on  every  subject,  and  under  all  circum- 
stances ;  and  are  founded  upon  principles  incorporated  with 
the  very  nature  of  man."  "  A  refined  musician  is  listening 
almost  in  rapture  to  the  skilful  execution  of  a  fine  piece  of 
harmony — throw  in  discords  upon  him,  he  is  in  pain  in  a 
moment.  Increase  and  prolong  the  dissonance,  and  he 
leaves  the  room  in  disgust. — You  are  fond  of  music  ;  but  you 
are  at  present  melancholy — ^you  are  in  great  affliction — you 
are  inclined  to  weep — the  plaintive  tones  of  an  JEolian  harp 
light  softly  upon  your  ear,  and  melt  around  your  heart — your 
tears  flow  fast — but  now  the  din  of  trumpets,  drums,  and 
cymbals,  and  the  piercing  fife,  in  mirthful  quick-step,  breaks 
upon  your  ear,  and  drowns  the  soft  breathings  of  the  harp — 
you  feel  distressed — you  turn  away  and  stop  your  ears.  The 
harp  touched  and  melted  your  weeping  affections,  it  fell  in 
with  your  feelings  ;  therefore  you  were  gratified.  The  mar- 
tial music  opposed  your  state  of  feeling,  you  was  too  melan- 
choly to  have  your  affections  elevated  and  enlivened  by  it : 
it  therefore  necessarily  distressed  you.''''  "  Your  heart  is 
glowing  with  religious  feeling — you  are  not  only  averse  to 
the  introduction  of  any  other  subject  at  that  time,  but  are  un- 
interested with  any  thing  upon  the  same  subject  that  is  far 
below  the  tone  of  your  affections.  Suppose  you  hear  a  dull 
man  preach  or  pray:  while  he  remains  dull,  and  you  are 
warm  with  feeling,  you  are  not  interested,  you  cannot  be,  for 
your  affections  are  not  fed  and  cherished,  unless  he  comes 
up  to  your  tone  ;  if  this  does  not  happen,  you  are  distressed 
and  perhaps  disgusted  with  his  coldness.    This  is  a  thing  of 


60 

course."  **  Suppose  you  are  lukewarm,  and  carnal,  and 
earthly,  in  your  affections :  you  hear  one  exhort,  or  pray,  or 
preach,  who  is  highly  spiritual,  and  fervent,  and  affectionate ; 
if  your  affections  will  not  rise — if,  through  prejudice,  or  pride, 
or  the  earthly  and  sensual  state  of  your  affections,  they  re- 
fuse to  enkindle,  and  to  grasp  the  subject,  although  you  be- 
lieve every  word  he  says,  yet  you  are  not  pleased.  He  is 
above  your  temperature,  you  are  annoyed  with  the  manner^ 
and  fire,  and  spirit  of  the  man.  The  higher  he  rises,  if  your 
affections  grovel,  the  farther  apart  you  are,  and  the  more  you 
are  displeased.  While  your  heart  is  wrongs  the  nearer  right 
he  is,  the  more  he  burns  upon  you,  if  your  heart  will  not  en- 
kindle, the  more  you  are  disgusted." 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  theory  of  the  sermon  before  us ; 
and,  as  I  think,  also  the  theory  of  the  whole  system  of  the 
author's  measures  for  promoting  revivals.  Some  of  his  lan- 
guage would  lead  us  to  infer  that  he  meant  to  embrace  what 
is  called  the  exercise  scheme^  that  all  sin  and  holiness  con- 
sists in  voluntary  exercises ;  but  from  other  expressions  it  ap- 
pears he  does  not,  unless,  indeed,  he  supposes  that  all  the 
sensations  and  emotions  of  the  mind  are  voluntary  exercises, 
which  would  be  indeed  an  entire  new  theory  of  the  mind. 
He  says,  "  all  the  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction,  pain  or  plea- 
sure, that  we  feel,  depend  entirely  upon  the  actings  of  our  af- 
fections at  the  time,  and  consists  in  these  actings.''^  Accord- 
ing to  him,  then,  all  the  pleasurable  or  painful  emotions  of 
the  mind  are  affections,  whether  they  are  voluntary  or  invo- 
luntary. These  constitute  our  feehngs.  And  all  sin  and 
holiness  consist  in  these  also.  And  he  uses  feeling  and  heart 
as  synonymous  terms.  Does  he  mean,  then,  that  all  the  plea- 
surable and  painful  emotions  we  have  are  of  a  moral  nature, 
and  either  sinful  or  holy  ?  Does  he  mean  that  holiness  is  the 
same  thing  as  happiness,  and  sin  the  same  thing  as  misery  ? 
Does  he  mean  that  all  warm,  lively,  and  happy  feelings  are 
holy  affections  ?  If  he  does  not  mean  so,  this  was  the  place 
to  inform  us,  and  to  make  the  distinction.  And  it  was  in- 
cumbent upon  him  to  make  it  clearly,  and  let  us  see  the  dif- 
ference between  those  warm  feelings  that  are  holy,  and  those 
that  are  not.  I  can  scarce  think  that  he  believes  all  warm 
and  happy  feelings  are  holy ;  but  I  have  looked  in  vain  for 
any  information  to  the  contrary. — "  Your  heart  is  glowing 
with  religious  feeling."  What  is  religious  feeling?  It  was 
all  important  that  he  should  tell  us,  because  all  his  conclu- 
sions were  based  upon  it ;  and  a  mistake  here  would  lead  us 
entirely  astray.  Does  he  suppose  it  impossible  to  mistake, 
and  that  the  man  who  thinks  he  is  awake,  and  full  of  religious 
feeling,  is  of  course  right,  in  thinking  so  ?    How  can  a  church 


61 

know  when  it  is  their  duty  to  "  shake  off  their  sleepy  minis^ 
ter,"  without  being  informed  what  it  is  to  be  awake,  and 
what  it  is  to  be  asleep  ?  Or  is  it  impossible  to  mistake?  Is 
the  consciousness  of  being  warm  in  our  feelings  on  the  sub- 
ject of  rehgion,  certain  evidence  that  we  are  in  a  right  state 
of  mind  ?  And  if  a  minister  does  not  so  preach  and  pray, 
that  "  our  affections  are  fed  and  cherished,"  is  that  certain 
evidence  that  he  is  "  sleepy,"  and  ought  to  be  "  shaken  off?" 
Is  religious  feehng  so  much  of  the  nature  of  the  inspiration  of 
the  prophets,  that  those  who  have  it  know  certainly  that  they 
are  right  exactly,  without  "  trying  the  spirits"  by  any  rule  ? 
Or  is  the  grand  rule  by  which  every  man  is  to  be  judged,  and 
his  spiritual  state  determined,  the  single  question  of  his 
agreement  or  disagreement  with  the  new  measures  ?  I  con- 
clude this  will  be  the  rule  adopted  in  practice,  and  if  this  is 
the  rule  intended,  it  should  have  been  more  distinctly  avowed. 
The  whole  drift  of  the  discourse,  however,  is  to  establish  this 
rule,  though  that  object  is  not  distinctly  avowed. 

But,  is  there  nothing  said  in  the  discourse,  to  show  that  all 
kinds  of  feeling  are  not  religious  feeling  ?  Yes.  On  page  10 
the  author  rejects  animal  feelings  as  forming  no  part  of  reli- 
gious affection.  What,  then,  does  he  mean  by  animal  feel- 
ing ?  He  gives  us  no  definition  ;  but  from  what  he  says  of  it, 
it  would  appear  to  be  that  tender  sensibility  which  inclines  us 
to  weep,  when  it  is  skilfully  touched.  His  language  is, 
"  adopt  a  strain  of  exhortation  or  preaching  that  is  calcu- 
lated to  awaken  mere  sympathy  and  animal  feeling,  and  you 
will  soon  see  that  there  is  a  perfect  community  of  feeling 
amongst  cold  and  warm  hearted  Christians,  and  sinners  ; 
they  will  all  weep  and  seem  to  melt,  and  no  one  will  be  of- 
fended ;  and,  I  may  add,  no  one  will  be  convicted  or  con- 
verted." I  conclude,  then,  that  by  animal  feeling  he  means 
emotions  of  the  tender  and  weeping  kind,  such  as  the  music 
of  the  iEolian  harp  is  adapted  to  excite,  and  which  the  intro- 
duction of  martial  music  would  greatly  disturb.  Such  feel- 
ings as  these  may  be  excited  in  view  of  religious  objects, 
when  presented  in  a  particular  attitude,  and  are,  no  doubt, 
often  mistaken  for  religious  affections.  But  they  are  the  re- 
sult of  mere  tragic  painting,  and  ought  to  be  carefully  distin- 
guished from  holy  affections.  There  is,  however,  another 
class  of  animal  feelings,  such  as  are  excited  by  "  the  din  of 
trumpets,  drums,  and  cymbals,  and  the  piercing  fife,  in  mirth- 
ful quick-step,  breaking  upon  the  ear."  This  class  is  doubt- 
less excited  by  religious  subjects,  as  well  as  the  other ;  and 
no  reason  appears  why  they  should  not  be  carefully  distin- 
guished from  holy  affections.  Yet,  no  notice  is  taken  by  the 
author,  in  this  discourse,  of  this  class  of  feelings,  as  animal 


63 

feelingS)  which  should  not  be  mistaken  for  true  religion.  On 
the  contrary,  while  he  expressly  excludes  the  other  class, 
there  is  much  in  his  language  on  the  subject  of  religious  feel- 
ing, which  leads  me  to  conclude  that  he  considers  this  class 
of  feeling,  when  excited  by  religious  subjects,  to  be  the  very 
height  of  holy  affection.  And  this  I  take  to  be  the  Jiey  to  his 
whole  discourse,  and  to  his  whole  system  of  measures. 

That  there  are  these  two  classes  of  animal  feeling,  each  of 
which  consists  in  emotions  of  the  mind  which  are  involunta- 
ry, and  are  neither  sinful  nor  holy,  I  think  cannot  be  reason- 
ably questioned.     The  existence  of  the  class  of  tender  sym- 
pathies, which  lead  us  to  weep  at  the  sight  of  distress,  is  ad- 
mitted.    And  is  not  the  existence  of  the  other  class  equally 
evident  ?     What  are  those  emotions  which  are  excited  by 
martial  music  ?     Why  does  the  sight  of  a  military  pageant 
attract  the  attention  of  the  multitude,  and  kindle,  in  so  many 
minds,  the  thirst  for  military  glory  ?     Why  does  the  sound  of 
the  fife  and  drum  wake  up  all  the  energies  of  children ;  and 
why  do  we  see  them,  in  imitation,  marching  and  counter- 
marching, with  their  paper  caps,  and  their  weapons  of  wood  ? 
call  it  enthusiasm,  if  you  will,  it  is  feeling  ;  and  feeling,  too, 
of  a  lively  and  animated  kind  ;   it  is  a  feeling  that  is  full  of 
fire,  and  spirit,  and  life,  a  feeling  that  blazes  and  burns  upon 
you,  till  you  sympathize  in  it,  and  burn  and  glow  in  like  man- 
ner, or  till  you  are  greatly  annoyed  by  it,  and  compelled  to 
flee.     This  feeling   sometimes   strongly   seizes  the   female 
mind  ;  and  wherever  it  does,  it  effects  a  wonderful  transform- 
ation.    Let  a  nation  be  invaded  ;  let  their  energies  be  roused 
for  defence  ;  let  the  genuine  war  spirit  be  waked  up,  and  all 
ages  and  sexes  will  participate,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 
Let  our  wives,  and  mothers,  and  daughters,  be  filled  with 
this  spirit,  and  they  no  longer  appear  like  the  same  beings. 
The  softness  and  delicacy  so  natural  to  the  sex  is  exchanged 
for  masculine  boldness.     Those  fine  sensibilities,  that  tender- 
ness, and  gentleness,  and  kindness,  for  which  we  so  much  ad- 
mired them,  is  laid  aside.     Every  nerve  is  braced  ;    every 
movement  is  quick  and  violent ;  every  look  threatens  ;  every 
eye  flashes  fire ;  every  word  breathes  defiance.     And  some, 
when  dangers  press,  and  help  is  needed,  disregarding  that 
unfitness  for  rough  and  hardy  enterprises  which  results  from 
their  delicate  frame,  will  fly  to  arms,  and  rush  upon  the  foe. 
And  some  will  outrun  their  more  tardy  and  phlegmatic  hus- 
bands and  brothers,  and  be  foremost  in  the  field  of  contest. 
Such  things  have  been  seen.     And  what  is  it  ?     It  is  animal 
feeling,  no  doubt,  of  a  peculiar  kind  ;  and  when  it  gains  pos- 
session, it  drives  out  all  the  animal  feelings  of  the  tender 
class,  all  the  soothing  sensibilities  and  weeping  sympathies  of 


63 

our  nature,  and  frowns  upon  them  where  they  appear  in 
others  at  such  a  time,  as  objects  of  ineffable  scorn. 

Now  change  the  subject.  Let  rehgion  be  presented  in 
such  an  attitude,  and  with  such  accompaniments,  as  are 
adapted  to  affect  the  nervous  system  in  the  same  way.  Will 
not  the  same  class  of  feelings  be  excited  ?  and  will  they 
not  burn,  and  blaze,  and  glow,  in  like  manner  ?  and  will 
they  not  produce  the  same  effects  upon  those  who  are  the 
subjects  of  them  ?  Have  we  not  examples  in  the  past  histo- 
ry of  the  church  ?  and  are  there  not  present  examples  be- 
fore our  eyes  ?  And  why  should  it  be  thought  there  is  any 
more  holiness  in  this  class  of  animal  feelings,  than  in  the  ten- 
der class  ? 

If  the  conclusion  to  which  I  have  come  is  correct — that  by 
the  fire,  and  spirit,  and  warmth,  which  glow,  and  blaze,  and 
burn  upon  us  through  this  discourse,  nothing  more  is  meant 
than  mere  animal  feeling,  of  the  martial  kind,  applied  to  the 
subject  of  religion,  the  principle  will  doubtless  apply  to  the 
leading  positions  taken  in  the  sermon,  and  satisfactorily  ac- 
count for  them. — Let  us  make  the  experiment. 

Page  5.  "  Suppose  you  hear  a  dull  man  preach  or  pray ; 
while  he  remains  dull,  and  you  are  warm  with  feeling,  you 
are  not  interested,  you  cannot  be,  for  your  affections  are  not 
fed  and  cherished,  unless  he  comes  up  to  your  tone."  This 
is  exactly  so,  if  your  feeling  is  mere  animal  feeling;  but  far 
from  it,  if  it  is  that  holy  affection  which  consists  in  the  love  of 
the  truth.  If  the  truth  is  clearly  presented,  though  it  should 
be  done  by  a  dull  man,  who  does  not  appear  to  feel  it  him- 
self, still  that  truth  would  feed  and  cherish  your  holy  affec- 
tions. And  the  degree  in  which  your  affections  would  be  fed, 
would  depend  upon  the  truth  presented,  and  not  upon  the 
feeling  of  the  speaker. — Satan  might  be  the  medium  of  an- 
nouncing to  the  angels  in  heaven  that  another  sinner  has  re- 
pented, and  the  tidings  would  fill  them  with  holy  joy,  though 
Satan  should  appear  to  have  no  pleasure  in  the  message  him- 
self But  in  the  sermon,  it  all  depends  upon  the  degree  of 
feeling  manifested  by  the  preacher.  If  that  is  below  your 
tone,  "you  are  not  interested,  you  cannot  be."  The  feeling 
in  you  is  fed  only  by  the  feehng  in  him,  and  not  by  the  truths 
he  exhibits.  And  being  so,  it  is  animal  feeling.  For,  no- 
thing is  plainer,  than  that  the  feeling  in  one  which  is  fed  by 
feeling  in  another,  is  mere  sympathy,  and  animal  feeling.  It 
cannot  be  any  thing  else. 

So  also  with  the  converse ;  in  which  I  conclude  he  means 
to  suppose  one  who  is  in  the  exercise  of  Christian  feelings, 
though  in  a  low  degree.  He  applies  some  terms  to  him, 
which,  as  I  should  understand  them,  denote  the  opposite  of 


64 

Christian  feelings  ;  but  as  he  probably  means  to  make  an  ex- 
act contrast,  I  pass  over  these.  Your  affections  are  low — 
you  hear  the  ardent  man  pray  or  preach — "  if  your  affections 
will  not  rise,  if  they  refuse  to  enkindle ;  although  you  be- 
heve  every  word  he  says,  yet  you  are  not  pleased.  He  is 
above  your  temperature ;  you  are  annoyed  with  the  manner^ 
and  fire,  and  spirit  of  the  man.  The  higher  he  rises,  if  your 
affections  grovel,  the  farther  apart  you  are,  and  the  more 
you  are  displeased.  While  your  heart  is  wrongs  [that  is,  of 
low  temperature,]  the  nearer  n^/i^  he  is,  [that  is,  the  higher  his 
temperature,]  the  more  he  burns  upon  you,  if  your  heart  will 
not  enkindle,  the  more  you  are  disgusted."  Exactly  true 
again,  if  it  is  mere  animal  feeling,  of  the  kind  which  has  been 
described.  The  state  of  my  nervous  system  is  such,  as  to  be 
pleasantly  affected  only  with  the  soft  tones  of  the  harp  ;  but 
he  pours  upon  me  "  the  din  of  trumpets,  drums,  and  cym- 
bals," and  I  am  pained  and  disgusted.  But,  very  different 
is  the  case,  if  it  is  Christian  feeling.  Though  my  Christian 
feelings,  which  consist  in  the  love  of  the  truth,  are  in  a  low 
degree,  yet  if  he  makes  a  clear  and  vivid  exhibition  of  that 
truth  which  I  love,  I  am  pleased.  And  with  respect  to  the 
manner  of  the  preacher,  if  it  is  the  eloquence  of  holy  love, 
and  I  am  a  Christian,  I  cannot  fail  of  being  delighted  with 
it,  though  ever  so  much  above  the  tone  of  my  own  feelings. 
Christians  are  not  unfrequently  in  a  state  in  which  their  holy 
affections  are  low ;  but  never,  I  believe,  in  that  state  in  which 
the  exhibition  of  that  truth  which  they  love  does  not  please 
them.  And  while  that  truth  which  they  love  is  exhibited, 
they  are  not  displeased  but  delighted  at  the  appearance  of 
a  high  degree  of  love  to  it  in  the  preacher.  I  have  never 
known  an  instance  of^the  contrary,  in  the  circle  of  my  Chris- 
tian friends.  And  among  the  revival  ministers  of  my  ac- 
quaintance, 1  have  never  known  one  who  was  not  pleased  at 
the  exhibition  of  a  high  degree  of  holy  feeling  in  another, 
even  though  his  own  feelings  should  not  come  up  to  the  same 
temperature.  The  remarks  may  hold  good,  as  far  as  animal 
feelings  are  concerned ;  but  will  not  apply  to  Christian  ex- 
perience. 

Again,  page  6,  he  says,  "  We  may  learn  why  persons  dif- 
fering in  theory  upon  doctrinal  points  in  religion,  and  belong- 
ing to  different  denominations,  will  often,  for  a  time,  walk 
together  in  great  harmony  and  affection.  It  is  because  they 
feel  deeply^  and  feel  alike.  Their  differences  are  in  a  great 
measure  lost  or  forgotten,  while  they  fall  in  with  each  other's 
state  of /eeZm^."  It  has  often  been  noticed  that  those,  be- 
tween whose  professed  doctrinal  views  there  is  the  greatest 
difference,  do  sometimes  thus  harmonize.     Some  have  won- 


65 

dered  at  it ;  but  others  have  understood  it  well.  The  true 
reason  is  here  given,  if  by  feeling  is  understood  animal  feel- 
ing. But  if  their  feeling  consisted  in  the  love  of  what  they 
respectively  consider  as  truth,  there  would  be  no  such  agree- 
ment ;  and  the  more  of  that  kind  of  feeling  each  had,  the  far- 
ther asunder  they  would  be.  But,  let  two  persons,  thus  dif- 
fering from  each  other  in  their  doctrinal  views,  be  filled  with 
the  kind  of  animal  feeling  which  has  been  mentioned,  that  is, 
the  martial  kind,  and  let  their  religion  consist  chiefly  in  this, 
and  their  difterences  are  easily  forgotten,  for  neither  will  at- 
tach much  importance  to  them.  They  can  meet  together, 
and  readily  join  in  the  same  ma7i7ier  of  expressing  their  feel- 
ings. They  can  sigh,  and  groan,  and  vociferate,  in  perfect 
harmony ;  they  can  think  a  noisy  and  tumultuous  meeting  a 
great  excellence,  and  an  evidence  of  the  peculiar  presence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  they  can  cry  out,  and  fall  down,  and  have 
*'  the  power,"  and  speak  and  pray,  all  at  once,  males  and  fe- 
males, old  and  young,  and  find  a  perfect  unison  o^ feeling  in 
it  all.  "  It  is  because  they  feel  deeply,  smidfeel  alikey  And 
this  accounts  for  what  some  have  wondered  at,  that  some 
nominal  Calvinists  have  thought  it  a  high  commendation  of 
the  new  measures,  to  say,  they  were  so  much  like  those  prac- 
tised by  the  Methodists  ;  and  that  some  Methodists  have 
said  the  new  converts  made  under  these  measures  were  re- 
ally Methodists,  and  it  was  not  fair  to  hurry  them  into  Cal- 
vinistic  churches,  before  they  had  time  to  discover  their  pro- 
per home. 

Again,  page  6.  "  We  see  why  young  converts  love  to  as- 
sociate with  each  other,  B.nd  with  those  older  saints  who  have 
most  religious  feeling  ;  these  walk  together,  because  they 
feel  alike.''  Young  converts  have  been  often  spoken  of,  in 
these  days,  as  being  much  nearer  right  than  old  Christians ; 
and  it  is  doubtless  true,  if  to  have  the  most  of  this  kind  of 
animal  feeling  is  to  be  nearest  right.  Old  Christians,  who 
have  grown  in  the  knowledge  of  the  scriptures  and  of  them- 
selves, know  well,  that  when  they  were  young  converts,  they 
had  much  more  of  that  kind  of  animal  feeling,  and  much  less 
of  that  feeling  which  consists  in  the  love  of  the  truth.  Their 
knowledge  of  the  truth  was  then  very  small,  and  they  could 
not  love  any  more  than  they  knew.  With  their  increasing 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  that  feeling  which  consists  in  the 
love  of  the  truth,  has  increased,  but  their  animal  feeling  has 
diminished.  Young  converts  having  much  animal  feeling, 
and  but  little  else,  of  course  harmonize  most  with  each 
other,  and  with  such  old  Christians  as  have  not  grown  in 
knowledge  nor  in  the  love  of  the  truth,  but  have  always 
made   their   religion   to  consist  chiefly   in  animal   feeling. 

9 


66 

The  fact  is  correctly  accounted  for,  if  it  is  animal  feeling 
that  is  meant. 

Again,  page  6.    "  We  see  why  lukewarm  professors  and 
impenitent    sinners    have  the  same  difficulties  with   means^ 
in  revivals  of  religion.     We  often  hear  them  complain  of 
the  manner  of  preaching  and  praying.     Their  objections  are 
the  same :  the  reason  is,  that  their  affections  are  nearly  the 
same.      It  is  the  fire  and  the  spirit  that  disturb  their  frosty 
hearts.*"     By  lukewarm  professors  understand  those  whose 
feeling  is  not  up  to  the  required  temperature,  those  who  have 
not  imbibed  this  martial  spirit.     By  the  manner  of  preaching 
and  praying,  of  which  they  complain,  understand  that  ma7i' 
ner  which  is  expressive  of  this  kind  of  animal  feeling,  at  its 
high  temperature.     It  is  the  spirit  of  war.     It  attacks  impe- 
nitent sinners,  and  those  professors  who  do  not  come  up  to 
the  required  temperature,  with  the  same  abrupt,  harsh,  re- 
proachful, and  provoking  language.     Such  professors,  being 
cool,  and  not  having  their  judgment  biassed  by  passion,  re- 
gard such  treatment  as  improper,  and  inconsistent  with  the 
meek,  and  mild,  and  gentle,  and  benevolent  temper  of  the 
gospel ;  and  if  they  say  any  thing  on  the  subject,  they  express 
this  judgment.     And  those  impenitent  sinners  who  are  dis- 
pleased on  this  account,  or  on  any  other  account,  will  be 
most  likely  to  make  the  same  objections.     The  fact  that  they 
make  the  same  objections  is  very  far  from  proving  a  likeness  of 
moral  character  between  them,  as  has  been  already  shown. 
But  the  fact  that  they  are  alike  "  annoyed  by  the  warmth 
and  spirit"  with  which  they  are  fiercely  attacked,  does  prove, 
I  am  willing  to  admit,  that  they  neither  of  them  enter  into 
this  kind  of  feeling,  and  have  not  the  same  spirit  enkindled 
within  them.     They  are  alike  destitute,  for  the  time,  of  this 
class  of  animal  feeling.     But,  if  the  feeling  spoken  of,  were 
the  love  of  the  truth,  it  would  produce  very  different  effects 
upon  the  impenitent,  and  upon  those  Christians  whose  affec- 
tions are  low.     The  impenitent  would  probably  be  displeased 
with  the  truth  exhibited,  if  they  felt  it  at  all ;  and  they  might 
complain  that  it  should  be  urged  with  so  much  warmth.     But 
Christians  would  not  be  displeased  with  that  truth  which  they 
love ;  nor  would  they  be  displeased  to  sec  others  love  it  in  a 
very  high  degree ;  nor  would  they  complain  that  it  was  urged 
with  too  much  warmth,  provided  it  were  done  with  decorum, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  meekness. 

Again,  page  7.  "  We  see  why  ministers  visiting  revivals, 
often,  at  first,  raise  objections  to  the  means  used,  and  cavil, 
and  sometimes  take  sides  w^ith  the  wicked  :*    the  praying, 

*  Mark  this  :  "  Ministers  often  can"/,  and  sometimes  take  sides  with  the 
wicked."  Those  who  make  any  objections  are  denounced  without  cere- 
mony. 


6t 

preaching,  and  conversation  are  above  their  present  tempe- 
rature.^' It  appears  not  to  be  the  truth  which  is  exhibited, 
that  disturbs  them,  but  the  temperature.  They  often  object 
to  this,  "  at  first,"  which  iniphes,  that  they  often  afterwards 
fall  in.  Now,  this  is  exactly  descriptive  of  the  eftcct  of  this 
kind  of  animal  feeling.  Animal  feeling  in  one  has  a  tenden- 
cy to  produce  the  same  kind  of  animal  feeling  in  another,  by 
mere  sympathy ;  and  it  often  does.  So  that  those  who  were 
not  aftected  by  it  ''^  at  first, "^^  may  come  into  it  afterwards. 
At  first  they  judged  with  coolness,  and  disapproved,  because 
what  they  witnessed  was  not  according  to  the  law  and  the 
testimony.  But  afterwards,  when  they  began  to  come  under 
the  influence  of  the  same  animal  feeling,  their  passions  over- 
came their  judgment,  and  their  scruples  of  conscience,  and 
they  were  prepared  to  fall  in.  Many  instances  of  this  have 
no  doubt  occurred ;  and  they  are  easily  accounted  for,  if  it 
is  animal  feeling.  They  objected,  at  first,  because  it  was 
contrary  to  their  settled  judgment,  deliberately  formed  from 
the  study  of  the  scriptures,  and  the  experience  of  themselves 
and  others,  and  their  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  revi- 
vals. But  they  fell  in  afterwards,  because  their  animal  feel- 
ings were  moved  by  sympathy,  till  they  were  carried  away. 
And  the  less  spiritual  they  were,  the  more  readily  they  were 
brought  to  fall  in,  because  they  had  less  holy  affection,  and 
less  of  the  force  of  conscience  to  be  overcome. 

Again,  page  7.  "  We  see  why  ministers  and  private  Chris- 
tians differ  about  prudential  measures.''''  And  "  we  see  the 
same  person  having  very  different  notions  of  prudence,  and, 
consequently,  practising  very  differently  at  different  times." 
The  idea  seems  to  be,  that  the  man  whose  feeling  is  at  the 
high  temperature,  will  judge  differently  as  to  what  is  prudent, 
from  the  man  whose  feeling  is  at  the  low  temperature.  And 
that  the  man  who  is  at  the  low  temperature,  is  not,  and  cannot 
be,  qualified  to  judge  what  is  right,  in  point  of  prudence,  for 
the  man  to  do,  who  is  at  the  high  temperature.  It  is  doubt- 
less true,  that  the  man  who  suffers  his  animal  feelings  to  con- 
trol his  judgment,  will  judge  differently  when  most  under  the 
influence  of  his  passions,  from  what  he  does  when  least  under 
their  influence.  And  while  passion  reigns,  he  will  be  very 
likely  to  think  it  right  so  to  do  ;  but  when  passion  cools,  and 
reason  resumes  her  sway,  and  conscience  and  the  bible  are 
again  suffered  to  speak,  he  will  be  convinced  he  was  wrong 
in  thinking  so. 

Again,  page  8.  "We  may  learn  how  to  estimate  the  opin- 
ions of  ministers  and  Christians,  and  our  own  opinions,  when 
our  affections  are  in  a  bad  state."  By  had  state,  understand 
the  low  temperature,  when  passion  has  the  least  influence,  and 


68 

we  have  the  meaning  of  the  rule.  The  man  who  is  under 
the  influence  of  passion,  approves  of  what  his  passions  in- 
dine  him  to  do ;  but  the  man  who  is  least  under  the  influ- 
ence of  passion,  and  judges  by  the  known  rules  of  the  word 
of  God,  will  condemn  him  for  so  doing.  The  meaning  in- 
tended, doubtless,  is,  that  the  former  is  right ;  but  every  sober 
Christian,  who  means  to  follow  his  bible,  must  say,  that  the 
latter  is  right.  The  whole  paragraph  might  be  assented  to, 
and  the  conclusion  drawn  be  exactly  the  reverse  of  what  the 
author  evidently  intended.  So  with  the  resolution  of  Ed- 
wards here  quoted,  "  that  he  would  always  act  as  he  saw  to 
be  most  proper  when  he  had  the  clearest  views  of  the  things 
of  religion."  All  would  assent  to  the  resolution ;  but  every 
considerate  man  would  apply  it  directly  to  contradict  the  sen- 
timents of  the  sermon.  The  clearest  views,  are  not  those 
which  we  have  when  our  animal  feelings  are  most  excited, 
but  when  they  are  the  least  so,  when  the  mind  looks  at  di- 
vine things  with  the  greatest  calmness  and  dehberation. 

Again,  page  9.  "  We  learn  why  churches  are  sometimes 
convulsed  by  revivals  of  religion."  "  As  those  who  are 
awake  become  more  engaged,  more  spiritual  and  active,  the 
others,  if  they  will  not  aivake,  will  be  jealous  and  offended, 
and  feeling  rebuked  by  the  engagedness  of  others,  will  cavil, 
and  find  themselves  the  more  displeased,  as  those  that  are 
more  spiritual  rise  farther  above  them.  The  nearer  to  aright 
state  of  feeling  the  engaged  ones  arrive,  the  farther  apart 
they  are ;  and  as  they  ascend  on  the  scale  of  holy  feeling,  if 
others  will  Jiot  ascend  with  thern^  the  almost  certain  conse- 
quence will  be,  that  these  will  descend^  until  they  really  have 
no  community  of  feeling,  and  can  no  longer  walk  together, 
because  they  are  not  agreed."  He  is  speaking  of  real  Chris- 
tians, whom  he  supposes  an  eminently  pure  revival  of  religion 
thus  to  drive  asunder,  till  there  is  nothing  in  cowwo^z  between 
them.  Is  it  so  ?  Do  not  real  Christians  feel  complacency  in 
the  image  of  Christ  wherever  they  see  it  ?  And  does  not 
their  complacency  increase,  as  more  of  that  image  becomes 
visible  ?  If  they  see  others  have  more  of  it  than  themselves, 
does  it  displease  and  off'end  them  ?  The  divisions  and  dis- 
tractions of  churches,  'which  the  new  measures  have  so  of- 
ten occasioned  in  these  days,  as  similar  measures  did  in  the 
days  of  Davenport,  doubtless  rendered  it  of  great  importance 
to  endeavour  to  account  for  those  divisions  and  convulsions, 
in  a  way  that  should  prove  that  the  new  measures  are  right ; 
and  that  those  measures  for  promoting  revivals  are  wrong, 
which  have  been  so  long  and  so  successfully  used  in  New- 
England,  by  the  most  distinguished  promoter  of  revivals  in 
our  age,  and  which  are  so  different  from  these,  and  have  pro- 


69 

duced  so  different  an  effect  upon  the  churches,  leaving  them 
generally  united,  and  happy,  and  strengthened,  instead  of 
being  divided,  distracted,  and  wretched,  and  weak.  The  au- 
thor accounts  for  it,  perhaps,  in  the  way  which  best  meets 
his  views.  But  it  would  have  been  better  adapted  to  instruct 
others,  if  he  had  given  us  some  rule  by  which  to  judge  when 
people  are  awake,  and  when  they  are  not.  As  he  gives  us 
none  but  the  general  one  of  the  high  and  low  temperature, 
the  degree  of  feeling,  and  not  the  kind^  and  as  it  has  been 
shown  that  the  kind  intended  must  be  the  animal  feeling  of 
the  martial  class,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  its 
producing  such  effects.  Some  Christians  will  imbibe  it,  and 
under  its  influence  will  '•'•  glow,  and  blaze,  and  burn,"  on  all 
around  them  ;  that  is,  they  will,  with  true  martial  fire  and 
spirit,  fall  upon  those  who  do  not  come  up  to  the  same  tem- 
perature, and  greatly  anoy  them  with  their  denunciations  and 
reproaches,  calhng  them  cold,  and  stupid  and  dead,  and  it 
may  be  hypocrites  and  apostates,  and  perhaps  publicly  pray- 
ing for  them  by  name  as  such,  till  they  are  more  and  more 
disgusted,  pained,  and  distressed,  and  the  church  is  rent  in 
pieces.  Not  so  with  a  revival  of  true  religion,  which  in- 
creases the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  the  spirit  of  meekness,  and 
kindness,  and  gentleness,  and  brotherly  affection.  If  a  por- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  church  have  an  increase  of  this, 
and  some  others  have  not,  it  will  lead  those  who  have,  to  treat 
such  as  have  not,  in  a  manner  that  tends  to  win  them,  rather 
than  to  displease  and  enrage  them.  This  is  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  both  classes  are  real  Christians,  who  love  the  same 
truths,  and  differ  only  in  their  degree  of  holy  feeling.  Church- 
es have  sometimes  been  convulsed,  through  the  opposition  of 
some  of  their  members  to  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  which 
were  more  forcibly  and  plainly  exhibited  at  such  a  time,  and 
the  view  of  which  they  could  not  bear,  because  they  did  not 
love  them.  But  this  is  a  case  entirely  different  from  the  one 
exhibited  in  the  sermon  before  us. 

Again,  page  9.  "  We  see  why  ministers  are  sometimes  un- 
settled by  revivals."  He  supposes  that  a  minister  may 
awake,  and  that  many  of  his  people  will  not;  in  which  case 
he  concludes  the  minister  "  will  most  assuredly  press  them 
with  truth,  and  annoy  them  by  his  spirit,  and  pungency,  and 
fire,  until  he  offends  them."  "  Another  case  may  occur, 
where  the  church  and  people  may  awake,  while  the  shepherd 
sleeps,  and  will  not  awake.  This  will  inevitably  alienate 
their  affections  from  him,  and  destroy  their  confidence  in 
him."  "  In  the  former  case,  let  the  minister  obey  the  com- 
mand of  Christ,  and  '  shake  off  the  dust  of  his  feet,  for  a  tes- 
timony against  them.'     In  the  latter,  let  the  church  shake  off 


70 

their  sleepy  minister  ;  they  are  better  without  him  than  with 
him."  Here,  as  in  many  other  places,  there  is  a  semblance 
of  truth  in  what  is  said  ;  and  if  it  had  been  correctly  explain- 
ed, and  carefully  guarded,  it  might  pass.  But,  with  the  in- 
terpretation which  the  general  tenor  of  the  discourse  re- 
quires, and  with  the  meaning  which  hearers  and  readers 
generally  would  understand,  in  its  connexion,  and  under  the 
circumstances  in  which  it  was  preached,"^  it  is  a  bold  attempt 
to  carry  the  new  measures  out  into  all  their  legitimate  con- 
sequences. It  has  the  semblance  of  truth  :  because  a  minis- 
ter may  give  ofience  by  the  clear  and  faithful  exhibition  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  bible ;  or  he  may  displease  the  soundest 
members  of  his  church  by  refusing  to  exhibit  them.  But  it 
is  not  the  preaching  of  the  doctrines  which  is  here  intended. 
Plain  preaching,  and  preaching  the  truth,  in  the  vocabulary 
of  those  who  adopt  the  new  measures,  do  not  mean  preach- 
ing the  doctrines  clearly  and  abundantly  ;  with  which  ofience 
I  believe  they  ought  not  to  be  charged.  It  has  reference  to 
the  manner  in  which  people  are  addressed, "  the  spirit,  and  pun- 
gency, and  fire,"  with  which  the  preacher  "glows,  and  blazes, 
and  burns  upon  them."  It  has  reference  to  that  of  which 
people  complain  as  harsh  and  abusive  treatment.  Those 
who  are  the  best  friends  of  the  plain  exhibition  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel,  and  those  who  have  been  long  known  as 
the  best  friends  of  revivals,  have  complained  of  this ;  and 
here  is  an  attempt  to  assign  the  reason.  It  is  because  they 
"  will  not  enter  into  the  spirit  of  a  revival ;"  that  is,  they  do 
not  enter  into  the  new  measures,  they  do  not  give  way  to 
this  class  of  animal  feeling,  nor  suffer  their  judgment  to  be 
overborne  by  the  violence  of  passion.  And  the  minister  who 
does,  and  cannot  bring  his  people  "  up  to  it,""  must  leave 
them.  But  if  the  church  enter  into  this  spirit,  and  the  minis- 
ter does  not,  "  let  them  shale  off  their  sleepy  minister.''^  This 
is  certainly  taking  a  bold  stand ;  and  is  going  one  step  far- 
ther than  Davenport  and  the  old  Separates.  They  only 
withdrew,  and  separated  themselves  from  those  they  de- 
nounced as  "cold  and  sleepy  ministers"  in  their  way.  But, 
times  have  altered  ;  and  it  is  much  easier  now  to  "  shake  off" 
a  minister  that  is  disliked,  than  it  was  then.  So  that  this  is 
the  first  thing  to  be  attempted  ;  and  if  this  attempt  should  not 
succeed,  they  may  then  separate  themselves,  as  a  last  resort. 
If  an  individual  awakes,  that  is,  if  he  adopts  these  new  mea- 


*  It  was  when  the  Presbytery  were  about  attending-  to  difficulties 
which  had  grown  out  of  the  introduction  of  the  new  measures,  at  the  place 
where  they  were  met,  and  where  the  discourse  was  preached. 


71 

sures,  and  gets  full  of  that  kind  of  animal  feeling  which  they 
promote,  he  must  try  to  bring  his  minister  into  the  same  spi- 
rit ;  and  if  he  cannot  succeed,  he  must  go  about  and  try  to 
raise  a  party  to  ^'  shake  him  off.''  I  have  heard  of  such  ad- 
vice being  given  privately  to  individuals,  in  particular  cases, 
but  this  is  the  first  time  1  have  ever  known  it  to  be  publicly 
preached  and  printed,  as  serious  advice  in  all  cases.  And 
what  is  the  rule  by  which  individual  church  members  may 
know  when  it  is  their  duty  to  set  about  his  work,  and  try  to 
"  shake  off  their  sleepy  minister  ?''  No  rule  is  given  in  this 
immediate  connexion;  but  perhaps  one  is  found  on  the  12th 
page:  "If  the  matter  of  preaching  is  right,  and  the  sinner  is 
pleased^  there  is  something  defective  in  the  manner.''''  If  the  un- 
converted part  of  the  congregation  are  generally  satisfied  with 
the  minister,  it  is  a  certain  indication  that  he  is  a  "  sleepy  mi- 
nister," and  ought  to  be  "  shaken  off."  Individuals,  then,  have 
only  to  ask  whether  the  congregation  are  generally  in  peace, 
and  satisfied  with  their  minister  ;  and  if  they  are,  it  is  their 
duty  to  commence  measures  to  drive  him  away.  For  ad- 
vising less  than  this,  in  Boston,  Davenport  was  indicted  by 
the  grand  jury,  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace,  and  acquitted  on 
his  trial,  solely  on  the  ground  of  being  insane  at  the  time. 
And  when  he  afterwards  "  came  to  himself,"  he  made  and 
pubhshed  a  confession  of  it ;  which,  though  it  had  a  good  ap- 
pearance as  it  regarded  his  own  piety,  did  not  stop  the  pro- 
gress of  those  evils  which  his  disorderly  measures  had  intro- 
duced, and  the  permanent  effects  of  which  remain  to  this 
day.  And  instances  are  not  wanting,  in  our  own  times,  of 
those  who  have  acted  upon  the  principles  of  this  sermon. 

Some  have  already  arisen  to  "  shake  off  their  sleepy  mi- 
nisters," and  have  succeeded  in  their  attempts.  Others  have 
endeavoured  to  do  it,  and  have  failed.  One  case  has  occur- 
red in  Durham,  in  the  church  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Seth 
Williston,  whose  character  as  an  active  and  successful  pro- 
moter of  revivals  has  been  long  established,  and  is  well 
known.  The  story  is,  in  substance  as  follows  :  A  young  con- 
vert from  the  West  made  his  appearance  there,  saying,  that 
he  "  knew  all  about  how  to  conduct  revivals,"  and  pointing 
to  the  meeting-house,  told  of  the  "  abominations  that  were 
portrayed  on  those  walls."  He  talked  insolently  to  the  mi- 
nister, and  then  to  the  people  against  him.  And  after  an 
evening  lecture  which  Mr.  W.  preached,  he  dropped  on  his 
knees,  and  told  the  Lord  a  long  story  about  Mr.  W.,  and  how 
he  had  talked  to  him,  and  what  he  had  said  in  his  sermon 
that  was  false,  and  so  tried  to  convince  the  people  and  the 
Lord  that  Mr.  W.  was  a  liar,  and  going  down  to  hell  if  he 
did  not  repent.     Upon  Mr.  W's.  trying  to  calm  the  people, 


72 

by  putting  the  most  charitable  construction  upon  his  con- 
duct, that  of  his  not  being  in  his  right  mind,  his  brother,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  church,  arose,  and  told  the  people  that 
Mr.  W.  was  "  the  head  Achan  in  the  camp,"  and  that  "  his 
character  was  as  black  as  hell,"  &;c.,  upon  which  some  went 
and  tried  to  still  them,  while  the  minister  and  others  retired. 
For  his  conduct  that  evening,  this  member  was  laboured  with 
by  the  brethren,  and  justified  himself  on  the  principles  of  this 
sermon.  He  said  he  had  nothing  against  Mr.  W.,  but  he 
"  did  it  to  have  a  revival."  And  so  strongly  was  he  per- 
suaded that  he  was  in  the  way  of  his  duty,  in  thus  endeavour- 
ing to  wake  up  or  "  shake  off  his  sleepy  minister,"  that  every 
efibrt  to  convince  him  of  his  fault  was  utterly  fruitless,  and 
the  church  felt  compelled  to  proceed  to  excommunication, 
Had  not  this  church  been  more  understandingly  and  decided- 
ly attached  to  the  cause  of  pure  revivals  than  is  common, 
and  had  not  their  minister  been  a  man  of  singular  piety  and 
prudence,  it  seems  very  probable  that  he  would  have  been 
"  shaken  oft'"  and  dismissed  in  consequence  of  these  things, 
as,  it  is  believed,  several  have  been  in  consequence  of  simi- 
lar measures.  One  instance  of  the  latter  kind,  is  that  which 
occurred  in  Stockholm,  where  the  Rev.  Moses  Parmlee,  a 
known  and  decided  friend  to  revivals,  was  publicly  denoun- 
ced, both  in  direct  declarations  and  in  prayer,  as  *'  a  hireling 
— an  Achan — in  the  gall  of  bitterness — in  such  a  state  that 
the  Lord  could  not  convert  sinners  in  his  presence,"  &c.  In 
this  case,  those  who  made  the  attempt  succeeded  in  "  shaking 
oft"  their  sleepy  minister,"  as  appears  from  the  result  of  the 
council  which  dismissed  him,  published  at  Potsdam,  April, 
1827.  It  may  be  said,  that  these  cases  occurred  before  the 
publication  of  the  sermon.  This  is  true ;  but  when  those 
who  were  concerned  in  them  shall  read  the  sermon,  I  think 
they  will  not  fail  of  feeling  confirmed  and  strengthened  in 
their  proceedings,  by  the  principles  and  advice  it  contains. 

Again,  page  10.  "We  may  see  that  carnal  professors  and 
sinners  have  no  diflftculty  with  animal  feeling y  Page  II. 
"  Adopt  a  strain  of  exhortation  or  preaching  that  is  calcula- 
ted to  awaken  mere  sympathy  and  animal  feeling,  and  you 
will  soon  see  that  there  is  a  perfect  community  of  feeling 
among  cold  and  warm  hearted  Christians  and  sinners  ;  they 
will  all  weep,  and  seem  to  melt,  and  no  one  will  be  oflfend- 
ed."  "  But  change  your  style,  and  become  more  spiritual 
and  holy  in  your  inatter^  and  throw  yourself  out  in  an  ardent 
and  powerful  manner^  in  direct  appeal  to  the  conscience  and 
the  heart — their  tears  will  be  dried,  the  carnal  and  cold 
hearted  will  soon  become  uneasy,  and  soon  find  themselves 
offended."     I  think  this  is  not  exactly  so,  even  if  explained 


•according  to  the  key  before  mentioned.  Let  us  paraphrase 
It.  The  class  of  animal  feeling  condemacd,  is  the  tender, 
weeping  class.  What  is  called  spiritual  and  holy  feeling,  is 
the  martial  class.  More  tragic  painting  will  excite  the  one 
class ;  "  they  will  all  weep,  and  seem  to  melt,  and  no  one 
will  be  offended.""  But,  different  constitutions  have  this  kind 
of  sensibility  in  different  degrees ;  and  ihose  who  are  full  of 
the  martial  kind  of  animal  feeling,  have,  for  the  time,  very 
little  of  this,  and  are  often  displeased  to  see  it.  Let  an  as- 
sembly, however,  be  deeply  affected  with  this  disposition  to 
weep ;  and  then  "  change  your  style,  and  become  more" 
martial  "  in  your  matter,  and  throw  yourself  out  in  an  ardent 
and  powerful  manner^  in  direct  appeal  to"  the  other  class  of 
animal  feeling,  that  is,  the  martial  class,  "  their  tears  will  soon 
be  dried  ;"  those  who  enter  into  this  spirit  will  not  weep, 
they  will  burn  and  blaze.  Those  who  do  not  enter  into  it, 
"  will  become  uneasy,  and  soon  find  themselves  offended." 
But  those  who  have  the  war  spirit,  will  be  offended  at  the 
tragic  painting,  which  was  addressed  to  the  weeping  sensi- 
bilities, and  with  which  the  other  class  are  gratified,  as  much 
perhaps  as  those  who  have  the  tender  kind  of  animal  feeling 
are  offended  at  the  martial  fire,  in  this  case.  And  both  on 
the  principles  illustrated  by  the  effects  of  the  two  kinds  of 
music  mentioned  on  the  5th  page  of  the  sermon.  In  this 
place  I  see  not  how  to  reconcile  the  author  with  himself,  any 
better  than  with  facts. 

Again,  page  IL  "We  learn  how  to  estimate  apparent  re- 
vivals where  there  is  no  opposition  from  the  wicked." 

Page  12.  "  That  excitement  which  does  not  call  out  the 
opposition  of  the  wicked  and  wrong  hearted,  is  either  not  a 
revival  of  religion  at  all,  or  it  is  so  conducted  that  sinners  do 
not  see  the  finger  of  God  in  it."  And  farther,  "  Those  means 
and  that  preaching,  both  as  to  matter  and  manner,  which  call 
forth  most  of  the  native  enmity  of  the  heart,  are  nearest 
right."  Here,  again,  is  some  appearance  of  truth,  but  so 
exhibited  as  to  make  a  v\^rong  impression.  The  clear  exhi- 
bition of  the  doctrines  of  the  bible  is  adapted  to  excite  the 
enmity  of  the  carnal  heart,  and  often  does,  in  a  high  degree. 
But  it  is  not  the  clear  exhibition  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel, that  this  discourse  is  designed  to  defend  ;  it  is  something 
very  different.  The  new  measures  have  excited  much  oppo- 
sition ;  and  that  opposition  is  to  be  accounted  for,  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  it  prove  that  the  new  measures  are  nearest 
right.  And  the  impression  is  also  to  be  made,  that  these  re- 
\  ivals  which  are  taking  place  without  the  new  measures,  arc 
wrong,  because  they  excite  less  open  and  violent  opposition. 
The  truth,  doubtless,  is,  that  in  some  places,  the  doctrines  of 

10 


T4 

the  gospel  have  been  so  long  and  so  clearly  preached,  that 
the  congregation  in  general  have  the  conviction  that  they 
are  true,  and  that  they  are  the  appointed  means  of  the  con- 
viction and  converson  of  sinners.  Their  selfish  desire  of  be- 
ing happy  hereafter  leads  them  to  wish  to  have  those  doc- 
trines preached,  by  means  of  which  alone  they  have  any  hope 
that  they  shall  ever  be  saved.  And  when  they  are  so  far 
awakened,  and  have  so  much  conviction  of  sin,  as  to  fill  them 
with  deep  distress,  and  make  those  doctrines  painful  to  them, 
they  yet  wish  to  have  them  kept  before  their  minds,  on  the 
same  principle  that  a  man  wishes  to  have  the  surgeon  apply 
his  probe  or  his  amputating  knife  to  a  diseased  limb,  as  the 
means  of  saving  his  life.  In  such  cases,  where  the  right 
means  are  used  with  the  greatest  fidelity,  but  yet  with  the 
tenderness  and  kindness  which  the  gospel  requires,  no  open 
opposition  is  to  be  expected.  And  it  is  to  me  a  pleasant  cir- 
cumstance, when  I  read  an  account  of  a  revival  in  a  place 
where  I  think  the  people  have  correct  instruction,  to  find  it 
stated  that  there  is  no  open  opposition.  I  infer,  that  the 
consciences  of  the  impenitent  are  so  kept  on  the  side  of  truth, 
that  they  are  disposed  to  give  it  a  favourable  hearing ;  and 
that  there  is  consequently  some  reason  to  hope  it  will  yet 
be  made  effectual  to  their  conviction  and  conversion.  In- 
stead of  concluding  "  it  is  not  a  revival  of  religion  at  all,  or 
that  it  must  be  so  conducted  that  sinners  do  not  see  the  fin- 
ger of  God  in  it,"  as  the  author  does,  I  draw  the  contrary 
conclusion,  and  am  led  to  hope  for  its  longer  continuance, 
its  better  permanent  effects,  and  its  being  followed  by  a  less 
injurious  reaction  when  it  has  passed  by.  As  it  is  the  great 
object  of  the  sermon,  however,  to  justify  the  new  measures, 
and  to  turn  the  objections  which  are  made  against  them  into 
proof  of  their  being  right ;  all  those  measures  for  promoting 
revivals  which  are  not  thus  opposed  must  be  condemned  as 
wrong ;  and  all  those  revivals,  Avhich  are  now  taking  place 
without  the  new  measures,  and  without  the  opposition  they 
excite,  and  without  "  making  a  great  deal  of  noise  in  the 
world,"  under  such  measures,  as  have  been  in  use  for  the 
last  thirty  years,  and  sanctioned  by  the  name  of  a  man  who 
is  deservedly  dear  to  all  the  friends  of  pure  revivals,  must  be 
put  down,  as  "no  revivals  of  religion  at  all,  or  so  conducted 
that  sinners  do  not  see  the  finger  of  God  in  them." 

The  remainder  of  the  discourse  is  principally  directed  to 
this  object,  and  especially  what  is  said  of  the  preaching  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  the  opposition  which  it  excited. 
A  cursory  reader,  who  did  not  carefully  attend  to  his  bible, 
would  be  led  to  suppose  that  the  preaching  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  was  always  "  opposed  with  great  bitterness,"  and 


75 

that  if  any  preachers  now  are  not  thus  opposed,  it  proves  that 
they  are  not  Hke  Christ  and  the  apostles.  And  the  compari- 
son is  not  obscurely  made  between  those  "  professors  of  reli- 
gion," who  were  then  "  often  leaders  in  the  opposition,  the 
religious  teachers  and  learned  doctors"  of  that  day,  and  the 
professors  of  religion  and  ministers  of  this  day  who  oppose 
the  new  measures.  And  the  idea  is  plainly  communicated, 
that  the  complaints  against  the  advocates  of  the  new  mea- 
sures, of  being  "  imprudent  ;  their  preaching  too  overbear- 
ing and  severe,"  and  there  being  "  something  wrong  in  their 
management  of  revivals,"  might  have  been  as  justly  made 
against  Christ  and  the  apostles ;  and  are  rather  to  be  consi- 
dered as  evidence  of  a  striking  likeness  between  these  men 
and  Christ  and  the  apostles.  And  there  is  a  very  offensive 
insinuation  of  "  great  spiritual  pride,"  and  the  study  of  "  car- 
nal policy  and  management,"  and  a  "  hypocritical  suavity  of 
manner,"  made  against  some  of  the  most  experienced  pro- 
moters of  revivals,  at  the  present  day,  in  consequence  of  what 
they  have  said  about  "  the  theory  of  revivals  being  better  un- 
derstood now"  than  in  the  days  of  Davenport,  and  the  prefe- 
rence they  have  given  to  measures  which  are  mild  and  gentle 
in  their  nature,  and  silent  and  still  in  their  operation,  over 
those  which  are  ostentatious  and  noisy,  and  adapted  to  stir 
up  opposition ;  as  if  they  pretended  to  be  more  prudent  and 
wise  than  the  apostles,  instead  of  merely  claiming,  as  they 
do,  to  understand  the  management  of  revivals  better  than 
Davenport  and  his  insane  followers.  And  the  concluding 
sentences  are,  "  let  us  not  be  puffed  up,  and  imagine  that 
we  are  prudent  and  loise^  and  have  learned  how  to  manage 
carnal  professors  and  sinners,  whose  '  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God,'  so  as  not  to  call  forth  their  opposition  to  truth 
and  holiness,  as  Christ  and  his  apostles  did.  But  let  us  know, 
that  if  they  have  less  difficulty  with  us,  and  with  our  lives  and 
preaching,  than  they  had  with  theirs,  it  is  because  we  are  less 
holy,  less  heavenly,  less  like  God,  than  they  were.  If  we 
walk  with  the  lukewarm  and  ungodly,  or  they  with  us,  it  is 
because  we  are  agreed  :  for  two  cannot  walk  together  except 
they  he  agreed. 

The  principle  upon  which  all  this  is  founded,  is,  that  an 
impenitent  sinner  could  not  be  pleased  with  the  preaching  or 
conduct  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  nor  with  any  preaching  or 
conduct  that  is  right.  If  a  Christian  lives  as  he  ought,  and 
if  a  minister  preaches  as  he  ought,  it  cannot  fail,  according 
to  this  theory,  to  give  offence.  The  author  says,  "  If  the  mat- 
ter of  preaching  is  right,  and  the  sinner  is  pleased,  there  is 
something  defective  in  the  manner^  And  not  only  must 
right  preaching  give  offence  to  some  sinners,  but  it  must  give 


76 

offence  to  all  sinners.  And  it  must  not  only  give  offence  to 
every  sinner  at  some  times,  but  it  must  give  offence  to  every 
sinner  at  all  times.  For,  whenever  the  sinner  is  pleased  with 
any  thing  in  the  Christian,  it  proves  that  that  thing  is  wrong. 
If  any  exception  is  admitted  to  this  rule,  it  will  destroy  the 
whole  discourse,  and  defeat  its  object  entirely.  A  few  ex- 
amples will  suffice  to  show  its  fallacy ;  and  any  child,  who 
reads  his  bible,  can  find  others  in  abundance. 

"  Herod  heard  John  gladlif  and  was  induced  by  what  he 
said  to  "  do  many  things."  What  was  the  defect  in  John's 
preaching  ?  Was  it  wrong  in  matter^  or  wrong  in  manner^ 
that  Herod  was  pleased  ?  Afterwards,  when  he  was  disposed 
to  put  John  to  death,  to  gratify  a  wicked  woman,  he  feared 
the  multitude,  because  they  counted  John  as  a  prophet. 
John  had  gained  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  the 
multitude  that  Herod  was  afraid  his  putting  him  to  death 
would  excite  an  insurrection.  Will  it  be  said,  the  multitude 
were  saints,  or  that  John  had  been  unfaithful  ?  When  Christ 
asked  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  about  the  baptism  of  John, 
they  were  afraid  to  say  it  was  of  men,  and  this  was  the  rea- 
son, "If  we  say,  of  men,  all  the  people  will  stone  us.''  Ac- 
cording to  the  principle  of  this  discourse,  John  must  have 
been  a  very  bad  man,  very  unfaithful,  to  have  excited  such 
feeling  in  his  favour  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  that  the 
chief  priests  and  elders  were  afraid  of  being  stoned,  if  they 
should  say  a  word  against  him.  To  those  very  Jews  who 
were  seeking  his  life,  Christ  said  of  John,  "  He  was  a  burn- 
ing and  a  shining  light ;  and  ye  were  willing  for  a  season  to 
rejoice  in  his  light."  What  was  the  .fault  of  John,  which 
they  were  pleased  with,  and  rejoiced  in  ?  No  fault  at  all ; 
they  rejoiced  in  his  liglit.  John  was  austere  in  his  manners, 
and  eminently  faithful  in  the  ministry ;  yet  the  expressions  of 
being  pleased  with  him  and  his  preaching,  which  we  find  on  re- 
cord, are  much  more  numerous  than  those  of  a  contrary  na- 
ture. The  scribes  and  pharisees  were  displeased  ;  but  the 
common  people,  the  great  mass  of  the  nation,  though  uncon- 
verted, were  very  much  in  his  favour. 

They  were  pleased  also  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Great 
multitudes  followed  him,  and  pressed  upon  him  to  hear  him, 
so  that  he  was  frequently  so  thronged  as  not  to  find  time  to 
take  food  or  rest.  The  scribes  and  pharisees  were  displeased, 
but  "  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  He  taught  in 
the  synagogues  of  Galilee,  "being  glorified  of  all."  Ac- 
cording to  our  author,  there  must  have  been  something  wrong 
in  his  preaching.  Which  was  it,  "  defective  in  matter  or  de- 
fective in  manner  ?"  When  he  passed  over  the  sea  to  the 
country  of  the  Gadarenes,  the  people  of  the  other  side  wait- 


77 

ed  for  his  return,  and  received  him  gladly.  On  one  occa- 
sion, he  was  compelled  to  withdraw  from  the  multitude,  to 
prevent  their  taking  him  by  force  and  making  him  a  king. 
When  he  came  openly  to  Jerusalem,  for  the  last  time,  "  much 
people  that  were  come  to  the  feast,  took  branches  of  palm 
trees,  and  went  forth  to  meet  him,  and  cried  Hosannah ; 
blessed  is  the  king  of  Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord.''  And  when  the  Pharisees  saw  it,  they  said  among 
themselves,  "  Perceive  ye  how  ye  prevail  nothing  ?  behold, 
the  world  is  gone  after  him."  We  read,  very  often,  that  the 
chief  priests  and  scribes  sought  how  they  might  take  him  by 
subtlety,  and  put  him  to  death  ;  and  were  in  great  difficulty 
how  to  accomplish  it,  for  fear  of  the  people. 

"  But  they  said,  Not  on  the  feast  day,  lest  there  be  an  up- 
roar among  the  people."  So  strongly  were  the  great  mass 
of  the  people,  though  a  race  of  impenitent  sinners,  prepos- 
sessed in  his  favour,  that  his  enemies  were  obliged  to  hire  Ju- 
das to  betray  him  in  the  night,  in  the  absence  of  the  multi- 
tude, and  then  to  fasten  upon  him  the  charge  of  blasphemy, 
before  the  chief  priests,  and  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Roman 
governor  to  his  death.  How  is  all  this  to  be  accounted  for  ? 
Had  he  been  unfaithful  in  his  dealing  with  the  common  peo- 
ple ?  Had  he  walked  with  them,  or  they  with  him,  because 
they  were  agreed  in  their  moral  character  ?  No.  Yet  the 
number  of  those  that  were  pleased  appears  to  have  been 
much  greater  than  the  number  of  those  that  were  displeased. 
And  it  was  only  by  craft  and  subtlety,  and  false  accusations, 
that  his  enemies  could  find  how  to  accomplish  their  designs. 

The  same  appears  to  be  true  of  the  apostles,  and  of  their 
ministry.  Read  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  through,  and  you 
will  find  abundant  evidence  of  this.  In  all  cases  of  persecu- 
tion against  them,  it  was  stirred  up  by  the  few  ;  while  the 
many,  if  they  had  been  let  alone,  were  inclined  to  favour 
them,  or  at  least  to  treat  them  with  respect.  The  revival  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost  overcame  all  opposition,  for  a  time ;  so 
that  it  is  written  of  the  disciples,  "  and  they,  continuing  dai- 
ly with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  from 
house  to  house,  did  eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and  sinple- 
ness  of  heart,  praising  God,  and  having  favour  iciih  all  the 
people.  And  the  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily  such  as 
should  be  saved."  When  on  the  occasion  of  the  healing  of 
the  lame  man,  Peter  and  John  were  apprehended,  and 
brought  before  the  rulers,  they  did  not  dare  to  pnnish  them, 
"because  of  the  people."  When  they  were  apprehended 
again,  the  officers  were  afraid  to  offer  any  violence  to  them, 
lest  they  themselves  should  have  been  stoned  by  the  multi- 
tude.    There  was  no  danger  of  their  being  stoned  by  those 


78 

who  were  converted,  but  by  those  who  were  unconverted^ 
who  were  strongly  inchned  to  favour  and  protect  the  apos- 
tles against  their  persecuting  rulers.  In  several  places  where 
Paul  and  his  companions  suffered  persecution,  they  were  fa- 
vourably received  and  well  treated  by  the  multitude,  till  cer- 
tain designing  individuals  came  from  other  places,  and  by 
their  intrigues  raised  a  persecution  against  them.  Paul 
abode  on  the  island  of  Mehta  three  months,  without  the  least 
appearance  of  opposition  that  we  read  of,  but,  on  the  contra- 
ry, was  "  honoured  with  many  honours." 

Do  these  things  prove  that  John  the  Baptist,  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  apostles,  walked,  in  all  these  cases,  with  the  ungodly, 
or  the  ungodly  with  them,  because  they  were  agreed  in  their 
moral  character  ?     No  ;  it  cannot  be  pretended. 

Will  the  ungodly  world,  then,  be  generally  pleased  with 
the  exhibition  of  Christianity  in  its  purest  form?  and  if  so, 
what  becomes  of  the  doctrine  that  "  the  carnal  mind  is  en- 
mity against  God  ?"  The  answer  is  not  difficult.  Men  of 
sense,  though  unconverted,  can  and  do  see,  that  the  Chris- 
tian character,  in  its  perfect  form,  is  excellent  and  lovely ; 
and  it  commands  their  respect  and  admiration,  when  viewed 
in  its  true  light,  and  secures  their  consciences  in  its  favour. 
And  though  the  hearts  of  men  are  naturally  selfish,  and  sel- 
fishness is  the  opposite  of  the  Christian  temper,  yet  men  can 
see  that  it  is  for  their  advantage  to  have  others  live  like 
Christians,  and  treat  them  as  the  gospel  requires.  Their  own 
selfish  feelings  are  gratified,  in  many  instances,  by  having 
others  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  circumspectly.  It  is 
only  when  the  temper  of  the  gospel  is  expressed  in  a  way 
which  crosses  their  path  and  thwarts  their  selfish  wishes,  that  it 
rouses  their  opposition.  And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  clear 
exhibition  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  is  so  peculiarly  of- 
fensive, particularly  the  divine  sovereignty,  in  disposing  of  all 
creatures  and  all  events  as  is  for  the  greatest  good,  and  the 
necessity  of  self-denial,  in  order  to  be  Christ's  disciples. 
These  things  will  give  oftence,  if  they  are  felt  at  all,  unless 
those  on  whom  they  are  urged  are  so  convinced  of  their  truth 
and  importance,  that  their  selfish  regard  for  their  own  safety 
silences  their  opposition,  as  has  been  observed.  But  the  op- 
position which  is  made  to  the  new  measures  is  not  on  this 
ground.  The  advocates  of  them  are  complained  of,  for  not 
preaching  those  doctrines  which  are  considered  so  pecuharly 
offensive  to  the  unrenewed  heart,  so  much,  so  plainly,  and  so 
powerfully,  as  other  revival  ministers  have  done.  The  op- 
position is  on  far  different  grounds  ;  and  in  view  of  what  has 
been  observed,  is  plainly  no  evidence  at  all  in  their  favour. 
Nor  is  it  safe  to  conchide,  that  the  want  of  opposition  to 


79 

other  measures  for  promoting  revivals  is  any  evidence  against 
them,  without  taking  into  view  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
and  finding  proof  from  them  that  it  is  the  want  of  faithfulness 
in  the  exhibition  of  truth,  or  in  the  urging  of  duty.  We 
must  not  adopt  a  rule  of  judging,  in  this  matter,  that  would 
condemn  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his  inspired  apostles,  as  well  as 
those  at  this  day  whom  we  may  wish  to  condemn. 

Perhaps  an  apology  is  necessary  for  giving  to  this  dis- 
course a  review  of  such  a  length.  Neither  the  talents  nor 
standing  of  the  author,  nor  any  thing  in  the  discourse  itself, 
if  it  had  been  published  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would 
have  induced  me  to  bestow  so  much  attention  upon  it.  But 
the  system  of  measures  with  which  it  is  connected,  and  of 
which  it  is  a  defence,  is  so  calamitous  in  its  tendency,  and  is 
urged  on  by  its  advocates  with  so  much  ardour  and  perse- 
verance, the  discourse,  from  the  semblance  of  truth  which  it 
wears,  and  the  different  interpretations  which  may  be  given 
it,  when  objected  to,  is  so  well  adapted  to  produce  the  impres- 
sion intended  on  the  minds  of  those  who  follow  their  feelings 
more  than  their  judgment,  and  has  been  multiplied  and  cir- 
culated with  so  much  zeal,  that  there  appears  to  me  to  be 
great  cause  of  alarm.  Though  professedly  a  discourse  upon 
the  subject  of  Christian  experience  and  revivals  of  religion,  it 
is  so  destitute  of  any  correct  distinctions,  and  so  well  adapted 
to  justify  false  zeal,  false  affections,  and  spurious  conversions, 
and  so  capable  of  being  apphed  to  sanction  every  species 
and  degree  of  enthusiasm  and  fanaticism,  and  to  condemn 
all  sober  revivals,  and  all  those  measures  for  promoting  revi- 
vals which  have  stood  the  test  of  ages,  that  the  importance  of 
the  subject  appears  to  me  to  justify,  and  call  for  still  more  at- 
tention than  has  been  paid  to  it.  And  if  such  a  discourse 
shall  be  circulated  by  thousands  in  every  direction,  and  be 
admired  by  many,  and  the  watchmen  of  Israel  should  regard 
it  with  apathy,  I  should  consider  it  as  a  most  alarming  indica- 
tion that  false  religion  and  spurious  revivals  were  about  to 
have  a  far  wider  spread  than  our  country  has  ever  witnessed. 

I  cannot  think,  however,  that  the  author  of  this  discourse 
can  obtain  the  countenance  and  support  of  ministers  and 
Christians  generally,  and  especially  of  the  friends  of  revivals, 
till  he  shall  publicly  retract  the  erroneous  sentiments  it  con- 
tains, and  make  a  confession  before  the  world  for  the  injuri- 
ous charges  it  labours  to  establish  against  all  who  disapprove 
of  the  new  measures ;  and  especially  for  giving  such  advice 
to  ''  shake  off  their  sleepy  ministers,"  as  all  disorganizers  will 
consider  a  full  warrant  for  any  disorderly  measures  they  may 
be  inclined  to  pursue  to  accomplish  that  end.  And  I  be- 
lieve the  Christian  public  must  and  will  hold  responsible  for 


80 

these  errors  any  who  shall  continue  to  give  the  author  their 
countenance  and  support,  so  long  as  he  shall  refuse  to  make 
such  a  retraction. 

In  conclusion,  I  cannot  do  justice  to  my  own  feelings  with- 
out solemnly  calhng  upon  the  author  of  this  discourse  to  re- 
examine his  own  experience,  and  see  whether  there  is  any 
thing  in  it  of  a  different  nature  from  what  he  here  urges  upon 
others.  When  a  man  preaches  and  publishes  a  sermon  upon 
a  subject  so  highly  experimental  as  this,  it  is  to  be  expected, 
that,  if  he  understands  himself,  he  will  disclose  the  nature  of 
his  own  experience,  and  require  that  of  others  to  be  as  good 
as  his  own.  But  if  there  is  nothing  in  the  experience  of  the 
author,  better  than  what  appears  in  this  discourse,  I  cannot 
but  have  the  most  serious  fears  that  he  has  deceived  himself, 
and  will  find,  at  last,  that  he  has  made  a  fatal  mistake,  and 
that  for  eternity. 

NOVANGLUS. 


TO  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  KEW-YORK  OBSERVER. 

Dr.  Beecher'^s  Letter  to  Mr.  Beman. 

Boston,  Dec.  15,  IS27. 

Gentlemen, — The  letter  I  now  send  you,  has  been  often 
requested  for  publication.  Until  the  present  time  I  have 
never  been  entirely  convinced  that  it  was  best  to  publish  it. 
But  recently  circumstances  to  which  I  need  not  allude,  have 
brought  me  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  my  duty  to  consent  to 
its  publication.  Indeed  from  the  principles  contained  in  Mr. 
Finney's  Sermon,  and  from  what  I  know  concerning  revivals 
which  have  taken  place  under  his  immediate  auspices,  I  am 
sure  that  the  "  new  measures,"  as  they  are  justly  called,  though 
not  unattended  with  some  good,  do  nevertheless  introduce 
into  revivals  another  spirit,  of  whose  nature  and  general  in- 
fluence those  who  countenance  these  measures  seem  not  to 
be  aware. 

It  is  a  spirit  of  fanaticism,  of  spiritual  pride,  censorious- 
ness,  and  insubordination  to  the  order  of  the  Gospel,  which, 
if  not  met  by  the  timely  and  decided  disapprobation  of  minis- 
ters and  churches,  threatens  to  become  one  of  the  greatest 
evils  which  is  likely  to  befall  the  cause  of  Christ. 

In  this  opinion  I  am  confirmed  by  all  I  have  seen  or  heard 
from  the  commencement  of  these  evils  to  the  present  day. 


81 

For  many  who  differ  from  me  I  have  cherished  sentiments  of 
high  estimation  and  do  still  cherish  them,  with  the  exception 
of  what  appears  to  me  a  dangerous  mistake  in  respect  to  the 
"  new  measures''  for  promoting  Revivals  of  Religion. 

Nor  is  it  my  wish  to  limit  the  usefulness  of  Mr.  Finney. 
My  constant  desire  is,  that  he  may  be  more  useful  in  time  to 
come  :  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  may  become  more  useful  than 
ever,  if  he  will  cease  from  and  disavow  those  peculiarities 
which  have  not  been  the  cause  of  his  usefulness,  and  by  ren- 
dering good  men  justly  afraid  of  him,  have  constantly  thrown 
impediment  in  the  way  of  his  success. 

I  am  respectfully  yours, 

LYMAN  BEECHER. 


Boston^  January^  1827. 

Dear  Brother, — It  is  some  time  since  1  have  been  rejoicing 
in  the  revivals  of  the  West, — as  I  had  hoped,  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era  in  revivals,  in  respect  to  rapidity  and  universal- 
ity. I  had  begun  to  anticipate  as  the  result,  such  a  power  of 
moral  sentiment  in  the  West,  as,  in  alliance  with  New-Eng- 
land and  other  parts  of  the  church,  might  ere  long  raise  a 
rampart  around  the  sabbath,  and  check  the  burning  tide  of 
intemperance,  and  the  progress  of  heresy  and  error. 

It  is  not  until  recently  that  a  rumor  has  floated  on  the 
breeze  to  excite  solicitude.  But  first  by  a  paragraph  in  the 
Christian  Register,  I  was  alarmed  ;  and  since,  by  unquestion- 
able information  from  eye-witnesses  and  friends  of  the  work, 
my  fears  have  been  greatly  increased,  that  Satan,  as  usual, 
is  plotting  to  dishonour  a  work  which  he  cannot  withstand. 
Far  be  it  from  me,  at  this  distance,  to  write  a  letter  of  advice, 
much  less  of  reproof  I  can  only  pour  out  my  thoughts,  from 
my  heart,  into  your  bosom,  upon  such  general  topics  as  seem 
to  be  in^the  neighbourhood  of  danger,  and  ask  your  candid 
and  prayerful  attention  to  the  subject ;  and  I  feel  the  more 
emboldened  to  hope  that  my  motives  will  be  duly  apprecia- 
ted and  my  suggestions  regarded,  from  the  consideration 
that  I  have  not  heretofore  fallen  under  the  imputation  of  a 
temporising  policy,  nor  been  suspected,  I  believe  of  cow- 
ardice. 

Allow  me  then,  with  as  little  circumlocution  as  possible, 
to  speak  my  thoughts  upon  several  topics  : — I  have  confi- 
dence in  the  piety  and  talents  of  brother  Finney,  and  have 
no  doubt  that  he  brings  the  truth  of  God  to  bear  upon  the 
conscience  with  uncommon  power,  and  in  a  manner  highly 
calculated  to  arouse  the  public  mind,  and  awaken,  and  con- 

11 


82 

vince  of  sin.  I  am  aware  too,  that  jninisters  and  churches  in 
their  ordinary  state,  compared  with  the  spirit  of  a  revival,  are 
deplorably  lukewarm,  and  often  need  strong  measures,  to 
bring  them  up  to  the  point  of  even  prudent  zeal,  and  such  as 
is  indispensable  to  a  powerful  work  of  divine  grace.  I  also 
fully  believe,  that  means  adequate  to  this  end,  though  ever 
so  prudently  applied,  must  be  such  as  sometimes  will  oftend 
hypocrites  and  cold  hearted  professors,  who  are  not  reclaim- 
ed by  them.  I  can  perceive  also,  that  ministers,  from  a  vari- 
ety of  causes,  are  liable  to  perform  their  duty  less  faithfully 
towards  men  of  wealth,  honour,  and  high  stations,  than  with 
reference  to  persons  in  a  more  humble  condition ;  and  I  am 
aware  that  more  directness  and  plainness  may  in  most  and 
probably  all  cases  be  employed,  than  is  employed  to  affect 
that  class  of  the  community,  whose  influence  would  be  so  sal- 
utary to  the  cause  of  Christ. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  promises  of  God,  in  respect  to 
prayer,  includes  much  more  than  has  commonly  been  appre- 
hended, and  that  a  chief  means  of  promoting  those  revivals 
which  are  to  bring  down  the  mountains,  and  exalt  the  valleys, 
and  introduce  the  Millennium,  is  to  be  found  in  more  compre- 
hensive and  correct  views  concerning  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 
Yet  still  1  am  satisfied,  that  there  is  no  subject  on  which 
ardent  minds  are  more  liable  to  adopt  hasty,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent, false  opinions,  which  may  lead  to  pernicious  effects.  I 
am  sure,  that  nmch  has  prevailed  on  the  subject  of  the  prayer 
of  faith,  as  being  in  accordance  ivith  my  views<j  which  I  should 
disavow  and  exceedingly  disapprove.  I  am  persuaded  also, 
that  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  may  be  commended  to  the 
consciences  of  all  men,  both  from  the  pulpit  and  in  general 
addresses,  with  more  directness  and  power  than  they  are 
wont  to  be  by  ministers  generally  ;  and  I  am  sure  that 
during  a  revival  they  can  be  pressed  with  a  closeness  and 
pungency  that  would  not  be  endured,  and  might  be  inexpe- 
dient, in  any  other  circumstances.  I  am  sensible  also,  that 
the  truth  cannot  be  brought  to  bear  simultaneously  upon  the 
conscience  of  an  extended  community,  without  producing 
great  emotion,  and  producing  and  justifying  extraordinary 
eflforts  to  obtain  and  to  communicate  religious  instruction  by 
meetings  of  increased  frequency,  and  1  am  not  afraid  of 
poverty  or  famine  from  any  efforts  which  men  ivill  make  to 
save  their  souls. 

I  am  persuaded  too,  from  the  close  alliance  between  the 
moral  and  social  movements  of  our  nature,  that  some  degree 
of  imperfection  and  indiscretion  may  be  as  inseparable  from 
a  sudden  and  powerful  revival  of  religion,  as  it  is  from  every 
other  sudden  and  powerful  movement  of  human  feeling ;  and 


83 

I  am  utterly  fearless  of  any  of  the  ordinary  defects  of  a  re- 
vival on  which  the  enemy  hang  all  their  hopes  of  successful  op- 
position. We  might  as  well  object  to  commerce  or  agri- 
culture, until  the  entire  business  of  a  nation  shall  be  by 
every  man  performed  with  perfect  discretion,  as  to  condemn 
revivals  of  religion,  because  imperfect  and  sinful  beings, 
when  strongly  and  justly  excited,  are  not  perfect  in  discre- 
tion. 

No  man  appreciates  more  highly  than  1  do,  the  importance 
of  ardent,  powerfid,  and  fearless  preaching,  as  a  means  of 
promoting  revivals ;  or  would  deprecate  more  than  I  should, 
a  cold-hearted,  timid  prudence,  which  would  extinguish  zeal 
and  weaken  the  power  of  holy  men  when  they  are  constrain- 
ed by  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  terrors  of  the  Lord. 

But  the  more  important  revivals  of  religion  are,  the  more 
should  we  deprecate  all  needless  repellences  in  the  manner 
of  conducting  them ;  and  the  deeper  the  wave  of  public 
feeling  which  is  rolled  up  by  the  breath  of  the  Almighty,  the 
greater  is  the  danger,  and  the  more  injurious  the  effect  of 
mismanagement.  The  ship  pressed  by  mighty  winds  upon  the 
mountain  wave,  needs  a  keen  eye  and  a  vigorous  arm,  as  a 
slight  movement  of  sail  or  helm  may  produce  instantaneous 
shipwreck.  Besides,  revivals  usually  include  but  a  small 
part  of  the  entire  community,  and  however  well  conducted, 
are  destined  to  meet  a  re-action  when  they  have  passed  away. 
The  world  will  attempt  to  re-gain  its  lost  dominion,  and  with 
a  disposition  to  take  ample  vengeance  for  past  annoyance 
and  self-denial ;  with  little  injurious  effect  however,  if  the  re- 
vival has  not  materially  overstepped  the  bounds  of  real  pro- 
priety, but  with  tremendous  re-action  if  it  has. 

In  the  indiscretion  of  Davenport  may  be  traced  not  only 
the  suspension  of  the  revival  in  this  city  80  years  ago,  when 
he  came  here  and  began  to  denounce  the  ministers  as  uncon- 
verted men;  but  those  indelible  prejudices  against  revivals 
which  made  old  Calvinists  formal,  Semi-calvinists  Arminians, 
Arminians  Unitarians,  and  Unitarians  Universalists.  The 
great  Eastern  defection  was  produced  by  the  indiscretions  of 
friends  of  the  revivals,  as  much  as  by  any  one  cause. 

There  are  in  this  city  and  region  now,  orthodox  churches 
in  which  there  has  not  for  80  years  been  a  common  evening 
lecture,  and  cannot  be,  owing  solely  to  the  extravagance  of 
revivals  which  took  place  almost  a  century  ago. 

The  following  are  the  subjects,  upon  which  I  would  sug-  / 
gest  a  few  thoughts  : 

I.  The  hasty  recognition  of  persons  as  converted  upon 
their  own  judgment,  without  interrogation  or  evidence.  Re- 
vivals may  become  so  great  and  rapid,  as  to  make  it  proper 


84 

that  those  experiencing  a  change,  in  the  course  of  a  day, 
should  meet  in  one  place  not  to  be  recognised  as  converts, 
but  to  be  examined,  cautioned  and  instructed  ;  for  the  more 
powerful  and  rapid  is  the  work  of  grace  in  a  community, 
the  more  certain  is  the  existence  of  sympathy  and  all  the 
causes  of  self-deception  ;  and  the  more  imperious  the  ne- 
cessity of  caution,  unless  we  would  replenish  the  church  with 
hypocrites,  to  keep  her  agitated  by  discipline  or  covered  with 
shame  by  the  neglect  of  it. 

II.  Severe  and  repelling  mode  of  preaching  and  convers- 
ing with  stupid  and  awakened  sinners,  giving  a  predomi- 
nance to  the  awful  and  terrific  traits  of  the  divine  character 
and  administration.  It  is  a  partial  exhibition  of  the  divine 
character  and  of  the  Gospel,  and  though  it  may  be  connect- 
ed with  success,  it  is  because  God  in  his  mercy  works  by 
means  of  great  relative  imperfection,  and  not  because  it  is 
the  "  more  excellent  way."  It  has  a  tendency  to  produce  a 
defective  and  unlovely  state  of  Christian  feeling,  a  state  of 
predominant  severity  instead  of  compassion  and  kindness. 
The  human  mind  is  more  affected  by  kindness  than  by  seve- 
rity ;  and  though  I  have  preached  much  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord,  it  has  been  always  with,  little  effect,  only  as  the  justice 
of  God,  and  his  mercy,  and  the  sinner's  obduracy  and  ingra- 
titude, have  been  exhibited  in  close  alliance.  I  have  not 
found  naked  terror  to  do  much  execution,  either  as  the  means 
of  awakening  men,  or  producing  submission.  It  is  the  Law 
in  the  hands  of  a  Mediator.  It  is  the  uplifted  sword  of  jus- 
tice, while  Jesus  invites  and  entreats  and  draws  with  the 
bands  of  love,  which  alarms,  convinces  of  sin,  and  subdues 
the  heart. 

III.  Assuming  without  sufficient  evidence,  that  persons  are 
unconverted.  We  may  not  possess  any  evidence  that  a  per- 
son is  pious,  and  it  may  be  highly  probable  that  he  is  not ; 
but  probabilities  do  not  render  it  expedient  to  assume  the 
fact  as  certain.  Because  we  enter  on  ground  which  we  can- 
not maintain,  and  assume  the  appearance  of  censoriousness, 
calculated  needlessly  to  awaken  prejudice,  and  augment  the 
phalanx  of  opposition.  It  is  also  wholly  a  superfluous  evil. 
For  why  should  we  incur  the  responsibility  of  pronouncing 
a  man  unconverted,  when  a  few  questions,  respectfully  propos- 
ed, would  obtain  the  data  requisite  for  a  close  apphcation, 
with  deeper  conviction,  and  less  repellency. 

IV.  The  application  of  harsh  and  provoking  epithets, 
which,  though  they  may  be  true  in  some  theological  sense, 
are,  as  they  would  naturally  be  understood,  a  violation  of 
civihzed  decorum  and  of  Christian  courtesy.  The  applica- 
tion to  men,  of  all  the  epithets  which  their  character  in  the 


85 

sight  of  God  might  justify,  would  constitute  a  hell  upon  earth. 
It  would  be  the  action  and  re-action  of  provocation  and  in- 
sult ;  it  would  prostrate  all  the  valuable  distinctions  of  society, 
and  violate  all  the  requisitions  of  the  Gospel,  of  rendering 
honour  to  whom  honour  is  due,  and  of  being  kindly  affection- 
ate, and  gentle,  and  courteous.  It  would  render  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  family,  and  the  members  of  the  same  com- 
munity, hateful  and  hating  one  another.  Should  pious  pa- 
rents  address  their  unconverted  offspring  as  serpents  and  a 
generation  of  vipers,  or  pious  children  assail  the  ears  of  their 
unconverted  parents  with  the  epithets  of  atheists,  rebels, 
enemies  of  God,  children  of  the  devil ;  any,  but  the  sons  of 
peace,  might  be  expected  to  dwell  in  the  family  ;  and  should 
such  provoking  epithets  be  hurled  at  each  other  by  members 
of  the  same  community,  it  might  qualify  them  sooner  for 
Billingsgate  than  for  the  church  of  God.  Should  an  unsettled 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  powerful  in  talents  and  zeal,  and  aid- 
ed by  success,  carry  himself  sword  in  hand  through  the  com- 
munity in  this  overbearing  style,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that 
settled  ministers  can  with  impunity  do  the  same,  or  that  any 
man,  can  do  it  permanently  with  impunity.  For,  embolden- 
ed by  success,  either  he  will  be  lifted  up  of  pride  and  fall 
into  the  snare  of  the  devil,  or  venturing  on  from  one  impro- 
priety to  another,  the  sensibilities  of  the  community,  goaded 
to  desperation,  will  make  a  stand,  and  re-act,  and  sweep  him 
away. 

V.  Another  evil  to  be  deprecated  by  such  unusual  treat- 
ment of  mankind,  is  its  tendency  to  produce  imitators,  who 
without  the  moral  power,  will  offer  the  same  provocation, 
and  be  treated  by  an  indignant  community  as  the  seven  sons 
of  Sceva  were  treated  by  the  unclean  spirits. — "  Jesus  we 
know,  and  Paul  we  know,  but  who  are  ye  ?" 

There  is  nothing  in  the  example  of  our  Saviour,  or  of  the 
apostles,  to  authorize  an  address  so  calculated  to  exasperate. 
Did  our  Lord  call  the  young  ruler  an  atheist  or  a  devil  ?  It 
was  only  when  a  course  of  open  opposition  to  truth  and  evi- 
dence had  indicated  desperate  wickedness,  and  produced  re- 
probation, that  our  Lord  assumed  the  language  of  severe 
rebuke,  and  terrific  denunciation  :  and  even  in  this,  he  acted 
as  the  Omniscient  Judge,  and  not  as  a  mere  man.  Generally 
his  intercourse  with  sinful  men  is  marked  with  compassion- 
ate dignity  ;  and  even  were  his  address  direct  and  severe,  it 
would  not  follow,  that  we  might  safely  imitate.  It  was  pre- 
dicted of  him,  that  he  should  not  lift  up  his  voice  nor  cry  ;  a 
bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  nor  quench  the  smoking 
flax,  until  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment  unto  victory,  i.  e.  he 
should  deal  so  kindly  and  tenderly  with  awakened  sinners,  as 


86 

would  neither  discourage  nor  enrage  them,  but  carry  on  the 
work  to  salvation.  The  example  of  Paul  is  fraught  with  in- 
struction on  this  subject.  For  though  the  man  never  lived 
who  possessed  more  moral  courage,  or  struck  home  with 
more  directness  and  power  upon  the  conscience,  yet  no  one 
ever  manifested  more  dexterity  or  care  to  avoid  the  repel- 
lences  of  prejudice,  or  rousing  up  aginst  himself  the  irrita- 
tion of  unsanctified  feeling ;  and  whenever  it  became  indis- 
pensable to  administer  reproof,  he  forbears  to  smite,  until  by 
every  possible  preparation  of  kindness,  he  had  insured  its 
salutary  influence  and  prevented  injurious  re-action.  If  he 
must  smite,  it  is  not  until  he  had  bound  the  culprit  with  cords 
of  love,  and  even  then  the  chastisement  is  applied  with  so 
much  regret  as  is  calculated  rather  to  break  the  heart  of  the 
sufferer  than  to  enrage  it :  and  in  this  he  consulted  the  dic- 
tates of  a  sound  philosophy,  as  much  as  he  did  the  dictates 
of  his  benevolent  heart.  It  is  certainly  a  new  discovery,  that 
prejudice  and  hatred  and  anger  have  become  the  salutary 
causes  in  pre-disposing  the  mind  of  a  sinner  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  truth ;  and  if  notwithstanding  hard  names  and 
provoking  buffettings,  he  is  awakened  and  converted,  how 
much  more  certainly  might  the  same  event  have  been  looked 
for,  had  these  repellences  been  allowed  to  sleep,  while  the 
same  amount  of  merciful  directness  and  parnestness  had  been 
applied  to  his  conscience  and  his  heart. 

Nor  are  we  to  suppose  that  the  sovereignty  of  God  may  be 
relied  on  alike  in  the  neglect,  as  in  the  use  of  the  most  suit- 
able means  of  interesting  and  affecting  the  human  mind ; 
for  sovereignty  consists  in  rescuing  men  without  reference  to 
legal  or  moral  desert ;  but  not  in  doing  it  without  means,  or 
in  a  way  that  supersedes  the  necessity  of  discretion,  and  does 
violence  to  all  the  laws  of  the  human  mind.  He  can  save 
and  does  save  by  means  of  great  relative  imperfection  :  but 
it  is  by  that  which  is  good  in  them,  and  not  by  that  which  is 
defective,  and  affords  no  evidence  that  still  greater  good 
might  not  have  been  expected,  had  means  been  more  wisely 
adapted  and  better  applied. 

The  laws  of  the  human  mind  are  not  to  be  outraged  in 
preaching  tiie  Gospel,  or  the  depravity  of  the  heart  needlessly 
roused  and  brought  out  into  virulent  action  against  man  and 
God  •,  and  though  those  who  themselves  were  exercised  in 
this  dreadful  manner,  are  apt  to  imagine  that  all  must  feel 
just  as  they  felt,  and  to  preach  with  reference  to  the  produc- 
tion of  such  horrid  feelings,  it  is  both  needless  and  injurious 
to  do  it.  There  is  impediment  enough  in  man  while  the 
rage  of  his  enmity  sleeps,  to  forbid  the  exciting  of  its  extreme 
violence,  and  enough  to  inspire  compassion  for  the  sinner, 


87 

without  involving  him  in  new  disabilities  by  arraying  against 
him  the  exasperated  power  of  his  depravity;  and  if  some  are 
saved  notwithstanding,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  many 
are  destroyed  by  such  treatment,  who  might  otherwise  have 
been  saved. 

The  following  may  serve  as  specimens  of  the  Apostle's 
mode  of  preaching  the  Gospel  and  dealing  with  men.  At 
Ephesus  he  served  the  Lord  for  three  years  with  all  humility 
of  mind,  and  ceased  not  to  warn  every  one  night  and  day, 
with  tears.  At  Athens,  he  reasoned  with  the  philosophers  on 
Mars'  Hill,  in  a  way  that  was  neither  harsh  nor  abrupt,  but 
courteous  and  yet  direct  and  powerful.  To  the  Corinthian 
church,  which  had  sinned  greatly,  he  says,  "  I  write  not  these 
things  to  shame  you,  but  as  my  beloved  sons  I  warn  you. 
Wherefore,  I  beseech  you,  be  ye  followers  of  me."  And  in 
his  second  epistle,  "  Out  of  much  affliction  and  anguish  of 
heart  I  wrote  unto  you,  with  many  tears  not  that  ye  should 
be  grieved,  but  that  ye  might  know  the  love  which  I  have 
more  abundantly  unto  you,  and  though  1  made  you  sorry  with 
a  letter,  1  do  not  repent,  though  I  did  repent." 

His  care  to  allay  and  to  avoid  exciting  prejudice,  and  to 
conciliate  favour  by  a  watchful  accommodation  of  truth  to 
the  character,  capacity,  and  condition  of  his  hearers,  is 
beautifully  described  in  1  Cor.  iv.  9 — 21.  Because  the  Gos- 
pel was  true  and  all  were  sinners,  he  did  not  treat  them  all 
alike  ;  "  Though  I  be  free  from  all  men,  yet  have  I  made  my- 
self the  servant  of  all,  that  I  might  gain  the  more."  The 
same  treatment  would  not  answer  for  all :  "  To  the  Jews  I 
became  as  a  Jew,  to  them  without  law  as  without  law,  to  the 
weak  became  I  as  weak,  that  I  might  gain  the  weak.  I  am 
made  all  things  to  all  men,  that  I  might  by  all  means  save 
some  ;  and  this  I  do  for  the  Gospel's  sake."  To  the  Gala- 
tians,  endangered  by  false  teachers,  he  says,  "  My  little  chil- 
dren of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again,  until  Christ  be  formed 
in  you."  The  directions  to  Timothy,  who  was  a  young  man, 
are,  "  Rebuke  not  an  elder,  but  entreat  him  as  a  father,  and 
the  younger  men  as  brethren,  the  elder  women  as  mothers, 
the  younger  as  sisters  with  all  purity."  He  had  no  notion 
that  a  young  man,  even  as  eminent  as  Timothy,  should  under- 
take to  break  down  ministers.  "  And  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle  unto  all,  apt  to  teach,  patient, 
in  meekness  instructing  them  that  oppose  themselves,  &c." 
The  epistle  of  Paul  to  Philemon  displays  a  consummate  know- 
ledge of  the  human  heart,  and  is  an  unrivalled  specimen  of 
the  most  dexterous,  delicate,  and  touching  application  of 
moral  power  ;  and  illustrates  perfectly  the  precept,  "  be  ye  as 
wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves."     When  the  Apos- 


88 

tie  used  pointed  and  severe  expressions,  it  was  only  in  despe- 
rate cases.  As  inspired  men,  they  were  authorised  by  God 
to  inflict  disease  and  death,  and  to  utter  the  most  awful  im- 
precations of  divine  vengeance,  but  they  recognise  them- 
selves always  as  the  mere  agents  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not 
as  speaking  themselves,  or  expressing  their  own  feelings. 
Thus  Ananias  was  struck  dead  for  having  hed  unto  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  Apostles  being  the  medium  through  whom  the 
Holy  Ghost  spake,  and  Paul  "  being  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  denounced  Elymas  the  sorcerer,  and  inflicted  blind- 
ness upon  him.  When  other  men  are  filled  in  like  manner 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  can  work  miracles  in  attestation 
of  it,  they  may  address,  when  God  directs,  individuals  in  the 
same  manner.  The  martyr  Stephen  in  the  early  part  of  his 
address  was  kind  and  conciliating.  It  was  not  until  their 
incorrigibleness  was  manifest,  and  "  he  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  that  he  uttered  the  fearful  denunciations  with  which 
his  speech  closes.  The  same  may  be  said  of  |the  bold 
address  of  Peter  and  John  to  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  Acts  iv. 
10, 11,  "Being  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  Peter  said,"  &;c. 
i.  e.  spoke  as  directed  by  heaven.  Paul  also  in  his  impreca- 
tion of  destruction  upon  Alexander  the  coppersmith,  is  to  be 
understood  as  denouncing  the  just  judgment  of  God  upon 
him,  under  the  special  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  and  not  as  ex- 
pressing his  own  vindictive  feelings ;  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  the  imprecations  recorded  in  the  Psalms,  and  in  the 
Prophets.  In  common  cases,  these  men  were  kind  and  gen- 
tle, and  more  given  to  expostulation  and  tears,  than  to  de- 
nunciation ;  and  when  they  speak  in  this  manner,  are  only 
the  organs  employed  by  heaven  to  denounce  judgments  upon 
the  reprobate.  God  surely  has  a  right  to  denounce  judg- 
ments upon  the  wicked,  and  to  select  his  own  instruments,  as 
he  had  to  exterminate  the  Canaanites :  and  sometimes  the 
holy  men  who  pronounce  these  imprecations  expressly  say 
that  they  are  authorised  by  God  to  do  his  "  strange  work," 
and  yet  they  do  it  in  "  bitterness  of  spirit,"  and  only  because 
"the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  strong  upon  them."  They 
therefore  executed  only  a  specific  commission,  in  given  cir- 
cumstances ;  and  their  conduct  furnishes  no  authority  to  un- 
inspired ministers  to  apply  to  their  unconverted  hearers  gene- 
rally, the  same  fearful  language  which  was  by  heaven  direct- 
ed to  be  pronounced  upon  reprobates. 

Long  have  infidels  and  scoffers  triumphed  in  these  impre- 
cations, as  the  supposed  ebullition  of  unhallowed  feeling  in 
good  men  :  and  if  they  were  recorded  as  an  example  to  be 
adopted  by  ministers  in  addressing  unrenewed  men  generally, 
they  do  breathe  any  thing  rather  than  peace  on  earth  and 


89 

good  will  to  men,  and  would  give  to  the  infidel  the  entire 
and  unanswerable  force  of  his  objection. 

The  general  principle  then  is  this  : — men  who  hate  and  re- 
ject the  truth,  and  conduct  as  those  did  whom  God  denounced, 
have  reason  to  fear  that  the  judgments  of  reprobation  will 
come  upon  them,  and  the  ministers  of  Christ  may  warn  and 
entreat  men  to  take  heed.  But  until  certified  by  a  revela- 
tion, that  an  mdividual  or  a  class  of  men  are  reprobates,  he 
has  no  authority  to  apply  to  them,  merely  as  ordinary  sin- 
ners, the  language  of  denunciation  which  is  peculiar  to  re- 
probates ;  and  whoever  observes  will  perceive,  that  so  far 
from  doing  this,  where  there  is  a  serious  mind,  and  an  anx- 
ious desire,  and  earnest  seeking,  they  are  addressed  in  the 
language  of  compassion,  exhortation,  warning,  and  entreaty.* 
Jf  1  might  refer  to  a  livmg  instrument  of  good  to  men  in  the 
conversion  of  souls,  of  all  modern  men  most  successful,  and 
who  if  the  humility  of  any  man  was  equal  to  the  temptation 
of  being  called  a  reformer,  might  be  called  such,  having  done 
more  to  reduce  to  a  science  the  mode  of  applying  truth  to 
the  human  mind,  and  conducting  revivals,  than  all  who  pre- 
ceded him,  1  should  refer  to  one,  who  of  all  men  watched 
with  most  critical  carefulness  to  avoid  needless  provocation, 
and  availed  himself  most  carefully  of  every  circumstance 
which  might  remove  hindrances,  and  give  to  truth  the  most 
unobstructed  efficacy,  and  who,  at  the  same  time,  approach- 
ed the  conscience  with  great  directness  and  power. 

V.  Female  prayer  in  promiscuous  assemblies. — First,  it  is 
no  where  commanded.  Secondly,  it  is  no  where  aurtiorized, 
either  by  precept  or  example.  There  is  no  instance  in  the 
patriarchal  age,  of  a  woman  offering  sacrifice  as  an  act  of 
worship,  and  a  symbol  of  prayer  ;  and  none  in  the  tabernacle 
or  temple  service.  On  the  contrary,  when  on  account  of 
great  judgments,  it  was  enjoined  on  females  to  pray,  it  was 
the  wife  apart,  and  the  husband  apart.     Thirdly,  jfemale  pray- 


*  The  position  that  all  men,  because  sinners,  are  therefore  to  be  treated 
alike  by  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  without  respect  to  ag'e,  office,  or  sta- 
tion in  society,  is  as  much  a  violation  of  common  sense,  as  it  is  of  the  plain 
directions  of  the  apostle,  which  exact  reverence  for  ag-e,  and  honour  to 
whom  honour  is  due;  especially  for  those  who  rule  over  men  :  and  if  in 
monarchical  governments  the  recognition  of  such  distinctions  was  a  Chris- 
tian duty,  where  the  arm  of  power  could  punish  delinquents,  how  much 
more  in  republican  governments,  where  public  opinion  is  the  only  law, 
and  a  levelling  of  all  distinctions  of  society  would  be  the  sure  presage  of 
anarchy  and  absolute  destruction.  Such  as  in  France  existed  for  a  time, 
when  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  cast  to  the  ground,  and  fish-women 
and  courtezans  formed  the  mob,  and  directed  the  overwhelming  tempest  of 
Tvrath. 

12 


90 

er  in  promiscuous  assemblies  for  worship  is  expressly  forbid- 
den. "  I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach  nor  to  usurp  authority 
over  the  man  ;  but  to  be  in  silence."  The  apostle  is  speak- 
ing concerning  the  order  of  public  assemblies  of  Christians, 
and  concerning  prayer.  ''  I  will,  therefore,  that  men  pray 
every  where."  It  is  concerning  the  dress  of  women  in  pub- 
lic assemblies  that  he  speaks  in  the  same  connexion,  that 
they  be  clothed  in  modest  apparel,  and  with  delicacy  and  so- 
briety. He  then  twice  enjoins  silence,  and  positively  prohi- 
bits speaking.  Again,  1  Cor.  xiv.  34,  ••'  Let  your  women 
keep  silence  in  the  churches,  for  it  is  not  permitted  unto  them 
to  speak :  and  if  they  will  learn  any  thing,  let  them  ask  their 
husbands  at  home,  for  it  is  a  shame  for  a  woman  to  speak  in 
the  church."  I  know  that  these  texts  have  been  explained 
away ;  but  so  have  the  proof  texts  which  teach  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  the  depravity  of  man,  the  reality  of  the  atonement, 
and  the  necessity  of  regeneration.  Any  thing  can  be  ex- 
plained away  by  those  who  are  determined  to  obey  their  own 
will  instead  of  the  bible.  With  respect  to  1  Cor.  xi.  3 — 16, 
which  may  be  thought  to  imply  that  women  did  pray  in 
Christian  assemblies,  I  answer, 

1.  It  is  not  so  plain  that  they  did,  as  it  is  in  the  fore  cited 
passages,  that  they  are  forbidden  ;  and  the  plain  is  to  control 
the  obscure,  and  not  the  obscure  the  plain. 

2.  If  they  did  pray,  it  must  be  supposed  therefore  that 
it  was  under  the  special  guidance  of  the  Spirit ;  a  preterna- 
tural impulse,  which  amounted  to  inspiration  ;  for  none  but 
the  Lawgiver  himself  can  make  exceptions  to  his  own  laws  ; 
and  this  considered,  the  example,  if  allowed,  no  more  proves 
that  women,  undirected  by  such  influence,  should  speak,  than 
the  example  of  Balaam  proves  that  all  unrenewed  men  should 
set  up  for  prophets  of  the  Lord.  If  women  did  pray,  it  was 
a  case  exempted  from  the  general  prohibition,  by  divine  and 
not  by  human  direction. 

3.  And  if  the  reasoning  were  even  less  conclusive,  it  would 
suffice  to  render  the  lawfulness  of  female  prayers  doubtful, 
and  of  course  to  exclude  them  under  the  rule,  that  if  we  are 
doubtful  whether  a  thing  is  lawful,  it  is  sinful  in  that  state  of 
uncertainty  to  do  it.  As  he  that  doubted  the  lawfulness  of 
eating  meats,  was  condemned  if  in  that  state  of  mind  he  pre- 
sumed to  eat.  But  if  no  command  had  been  given  on  this 
subject,  I  am  of  opinion  that  nature  itself,  as  the  apostle 
says,  is  decisive  on  the  subject.  There  is  generally,  and 
should  be  always,  in  the  female  character,  a  softness  and  de- 
licacy of  feeling  which  shrinks  from  the  notoriety  of  a  public 
performance.  It  is  the  guard  of  female  virtue,  and  invalua- 
ble in  its  soothing,  civilizing  influence  on  man  ;  and  a  great- 


91 

er  evil,  next  to  the  loss  of  conscience  and  chastity,  could  not 
befall  the  female  sex,  or  the  community  at  large,  than  to  dis- 
robe the  female  mind  of  those  ornaments  of  sensibility,  and 
clothe  it  with  the  rough  texture  of  masculine  fibre.  But  no 
well  educated  female  can  put  herself  up,  or  be  put  up,  to  the 
point  of  pubhc  prayer,  without  the  loss  of  some  portion  at 
least  of  that  female  delicacy,  wiiich  is  above  all  price ;  and 
whoever  has  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  efiect  of  female 
exhortation  and  prayer  in  public,  will  be  compelled  to  remark 
the  exchange  of  softness  and  delicacy  for  masculine  courage, 
so  desirable  in  man,  so  unlovely  in  woman;  and  if  we  need 
farther  testimony,  the  general  character  of  actresses  is  a 
standing  memorial  of  the  influence  of  female  elocution  be- 
fore public  assemblies. 

VII.  Bold,  or  imprudent  expressions  in  the  ardour  of 
preaching,  or  under  the  provocation  of  opposition,  or  in  the 
delirious  exultation  of  spiritual  pride. — The  pre-eminent  im- 
portance of  religion  and  the  soul,  may  tempt  a  man  to  pour 
contempt  on  all  carefulness  about  style  and  well  selected  epi- 
thets ;  but  if  negligence  in  this  respect  may  destroy  souls  as 
well  as  save  them,  then  the  more  important  the  soul,  the 
more  important  it  is  that  in  none  of  these  respects  we  offend 
and  destroy  those  for  whom  Christ  died. 

VIII.  Language  of  unbecoming  familiarity  with  God 
in  prayer. — Such  a  thing  is  possible  in  good  men,  but 
it  is  piety  degenerated  and  mingled  commonly  with  carnal 
affection  or  spiritual  pride.  A  just  sense  of  ourselves  and  of 
God,  will  produce  any  thing  rather  than  irreverent  familiari- 
ty. If  in  heaven  pure  spirits  veil  their  faces  and  adore,  shall 
not  mortal  man,  whose  eye  by  faith  seeth  God,  abhor  himself? 
The  difference  between  humble  and  presumptuous  boldness 
is  immense ;  and  no  frequency  of  real  spiritual  access  and 
communion  with  God,  can  possibly  breed  irreverent  familia- 
rity. For  a  man,  then,  to  talk  to  his  Maker  about  men  and 
things  in  the  dialect  more  familiar  and  divested  of  reverence, 
than  a  well-educated  child  would  adopt  in  addressing  an 
earthly  parent,  is  utterly  inadmissible. 

IX.  Coarse,  blunt,  and  vulgar  expressions. — These,  if  in- 
dulged by  good  men,  indicate,  or  infallibly  produce,  the  want 
of  that  delicacy  of  feeling,  which,  next  to  conscience  and  pi- 
ety, is  our  greatest  safeguard  against  impropriety  ;  and  when 
coupled  with  religion,  adorns  the  doctrines  of  God  our  Sa- 
viour;  and  though  some  ears  may  not  be  offended,  there  are 
always,  in  every  assembly,  some  that  v^^ill  be  ;  and  though 
some  souls  may  not  be  injured  by  it,  why  should  it  be  indul- 
ged, when  these  might  be  as  much  benefited  by  other  lan- 
guage, while  many  may  be  offended  and  perhaps  destroyed 


92 

by  it  1  Say  not  it  is  their  own  fault :  for  though  it  may  be 
that  they  ought  not  to  have  been  so  offended  as  to  have  re- 
jected the  truth,  yet  if  we,  knowing  the  habihty  of  men  to  be 
thus  offended  and  injured,  proceed  wilfully  to  create  the  of- 
fence, the  wo  may  belong  to  them  by  whom  the  offence  co- 
meth,  as  really  as  to  those  who  are  criminally  offended.  My 
own  observation  has  taught  me,  that  there  is  a  critical  state 
of  the  mind  in  the  experience  of  almost  every  sinner,  when 
small  causes  may  turn  the  scale  the  wrong  way  ;  and  if  a  mi- 
nister, careless  of  his  language  or  conduct  in  dealing  with 
men,  shall  save  many,  the  day  of  judgment  may  disclose  the 
appalling  fact,  that  he  was  the  means  of  destroying  more 
souls  than  he  saved.  And  besides  all  this,  human  nature 
needs  elevation  and  refinement ;  it  is  of  itself  prone  enough 
to  sink  down  to  coarseness  and  indelicacy  ;  and  the  evil  must 
be  immense,  of  sending  religion,  the  great  purifier  of  man, 
through  the  nation  in  a  style  which  will  be  calculated  to  in- 
crease the  obtuseness  of  feeling,  and  the  roughness  of  civil- 
ized intercourse.  Let  grossness  characterise  the  church,  and 
refinement  the  world,  and  you  throw  a  large  portion  of  man- 
kind into  hopeless  opposition  to  the  gospel. 

X.  A  harsh  and  severe  mode  of  addressing  sinners. — 
Whatever  language  a  man  uses,  it  tends  to  beget  in  him  the 
style  of  feeling  of  which  it  is  characteristic.  If  an  awakened 
sinner,  to  conceal  his  impression,  shall  affect  lightness  of 
language  and  manner,  he  will  soon  become  what  he  affects 
to  be,  a  careless  sinner.  On  this  principle  it  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, no  minister  can  adopt  a  severe,  harsh,  and  censorious 
manner  with  sinners,  and  not  become,  toksome  extent  in  spi- 
rit, what  he  seems  to  be  in  language.  We  must,  at  times, 
use  the  language  of  severity  and  terror  ;  but  if  this  becomes 
the  unvarying  or  common  mode,  it  will  be  unhappy  :  nor  can 
the  language  of  denunciation  and  threatening,  such  as  'cur- 
sed,' '  hell,'  'damnation,'  and  the  like,  be  made  frequent  and 
familiar  in  the  pulpit,  without  bringing  up  the  association  of 
similar  language,  from  profane  lips,  in  far  different  places ; 
or  without  producing,  if  not  as  much,  yet  some  degree  of  the 
bad  influence  of  profane  swearing.  In  the  time  of  Daven- 
port, they  used  to  address  men  from  the  pulpit  as  "  cursed 
sinners,"  and  talk  about  their  being  "  damned  to  hell ;"  which 
made  some  people  wonder  what  had  got  into  ministers  to 
swear  so, 

XL  New  era  in  revivals — reformers — reformation  always 
opposed,  even  by  good  men,  &c. —  Such  ideas,  cherished, 
bring  to  the  naughty  and  deceitful  heart  of  man  no  small 
danger,  and  have  ruined  many  ;  for  though  multitudes  have 
thought  they  were  raised  up  to  be  reformers  in  the  church. 


I 


93 

but  a  small  number  of  men  have  been  in  reality  such  ;  and 
as  to  opposition  from  good  men,  the  facts  generally  have  been 
the  other  way.  The  opponents  of  Luther  and  Calvin  were 
not  pious  men,  but  the  legions  of  Antichrist-,  and  so  long  as 
enemies  only  lifted  the  lance  against  them,  the  reformation 
advanced  ;  but  from  the  time  the  reformers  began  to  lift  it 
one  against  the  other,  it  stopped.  The  chief  opponents  of 
Whitfield  in  England  were  the  hierarchy  ;  and  in  this  coun- 
try, the  cold-hearted  Arminians  and  formal  Calvinists.  But 
the  ministers  who  held  the  doctrines  and  maintained  the 
views  of  revivals,  which  now  pervade  New-England  and  the 
West,  were  his  most  ardent  friends  :  And  there  is  no  instance 
upon  record,  of  a  great  evangelical  reformation  which  was 
opposed  strenuously  by  the  best  of  men,  and  carried  sword 
in  hand  by  denouncing  and  breaking  down  the  most  active, 
experienced,  and  successful  ministers  of  Christ  and  members 
of  his  church.  Whitfield  and  the  Tennants  strengthened 
the  hands  of  good  ministers,  and  were  terrible  only  to  the 
Arminian  and  lukewarm  ;  and  while  their  counsels  prevailed, 
the  revivals  went  on.  It  was  reserved  for  Davenport  and  his 
followers  to  stop  it,  by  setting  up  a  new  mode  of  preaching 
and  conduct,  which  good  men  could  not  adopt ;  for  this  they 
were  denounced,  and  separations  encouraged,  whose  delete- 
rious effects  a  whole  century  will  not  obliterate. 

Xll.  A  self  sufficient  and  daring  state  of  mind,  which  is 
reckless  of  consequences,  and  incorrigible  to  argument  or 
advice.  It  may  be  the  result  of  confidence  inspired  by  suc- 
cess ;  of  the  magnifying  effect  of  intense  interest  on  one  sub- 
ject, which  throws  every  thing  else  out  of  the  circumference 
of  vision,  and  into  relative  insignificance;  of  nervous  excite- 
ment which  quickens  all  the  sensibilities  of  the  soul,  and  mag- 
nifies objects  of  interest ;  and,  at  last,  of  a  settled  state  of 
perverted  feeling,  the  product  of  the  preceding  causes, 
which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  subject,  becomes  absolute 
knowledge,  and  pours  contempt  on  argument  or  advice,  and 
can  no  more  be  stopped  in  its  career,  than  the  foaming  cata- 
ract, or  the  resistless  whirlwind.  For  why  should  a  good 
man  stop,  who  knows  certainly  that  he  is  right  exactly,  and 
that  all  men  are  wrong  in  proportion  as  they  differ  from  him  ? 
This  unquestionably  was  the  state  of  mind  to  which  Daven- 
port and  his  followers  came.  He  and  they,  upon  the  subject 
of  promoting  revivals,  were  undoubtedly  the  subjects  of  a  reli- 
gious nervous  insanity.  They  mistook  the  feeling  of  certain- 
ty and  confidence  produced  by  nervous  excitement,  and  per- 
verted sensation,  for  absolute  knowledge,  if  not  for  inspira- 
tion ;  and  drove  the  whirlwind  of  their  insane  piety  through 


94 

the  churches  with  a  fury  which  could  not  be  resisted,  and 
with  a  desolating  influence  which  in  many  places  has  made 
its  track  visible  to  the  present  day.  It  was  this  '^  know-cer- 
tain-feehng,^'  which  emboldened  Davenport  to  chastise  aged 
and  eminent  ministers,  and  to  pray  for  them,  and  denounce 
them  as  unconverted,  and  to  attempt  to  break  them  down  by 
promoting  separations  from  all  who  would  not  conform  im- 
plicitly to  his  views, — by  setting  on  fire  around  them  the  wood, 
hay,  and  stubbie,  which  exist  in  m.ost  communities,  and  may 
easily  be  set  on  fire,  at  any  time,  by  rashness  and  misguided 
zeal ;  and  so  far  as  my  observation  extends^  the  man  who 
confides  exclusively  in  himself,  and  is  inaccessible  to  advice 
and  influence  from  without,  has  passed  the  bounds  of  sound 
reason,  and  is  upon  the  confines  of  destruction. 

XIII.  Whatever  the  code  of  public  opinion  has  adopted 
which  is  sinful,  must  be  rejected ;  but  there  are  a  multitude 
of  things  which  belong  to  man  as  an  intellectual  and  social 
being,  which  cannot  be  disregarded,  without  destroying  alike 
civilization  and  Christianity.  There  are  some  things  which 
adorn,  and  some  which  disgrace  religion,  and  should  we 
therefore  in  our  zeal  strip  religion  of  the  mildness,  and  kind- 
ness, and  courtesy  of  civilized  decorum,  and  exhibit  her  in  al- 
hance  with  all  the  repellences  and  roughnesses  of  uncultiva- 
ted humanity,  as  well  might  the  bodies  in  the  valley  of  vision 
have  been  animated  and  sent  forth  in  all  their  unsightly  na- 
kedness before  the  skin  came  upon  ihem.  True  religion 
makes  men  courteous,  and  produces  those  salutary  rules  of 
civilized  intercourse  which  distinguish  Christian  from  savage 
nations.  Nor  with  all  these  restraints,  and  grace  beside,  is 
there  any  danger  that  men,  in  the  interchange  of  social  inter- 
course, will  treat  each  other  with  more  respect  and  courtesy, 
than  would  naturally  result  from  each  man's  loving  his  neigh- 
bour as  himself 

XIV.  Success  an  evidence  that  all  which  is  done  in  revi- 
vals is  right.  No  mode  of  reasoning  is  so  safe  as  matter-of- 
fact  reasoning,  if  properly  conducted  ;  and  none  perhaps  is 
so  liable  to  be  perverted  to  purposes  of  sophistry.  The 
grounds  of  deception  are  two:  1.  Drawing  general  conclu- 
sions from  particular  premises ;  inferring  that  because  some 
preacher's  mode  of  address  or  action  has  been  useful  in  some 
circumstances,  it  is  applicable  to  all  circumstances.  As  if  a 
physician,  on  discovering  a  remedy  for  some  disease,  should 
make  it  his  standing  and  universal  prescription  in  all  cases ; 
as  if  the  shipmaster,  who  had  once  been  driven  out  to  sea 
before  boisterous  winds,  without  anchor,  or  compass,  or 
chart,  or  rudder,  and  who  reached  by  miracle  his  port  in  safe- 
ty, should  return  to  denounce  henceforth  these  means  of  safe- 


95 

ty,  and  insist  that  nothing  was  needed  to  conduct  auspicious- 
ly the  commerce  of  the  whole  world  but  a  direct  course,  and 
mountain  waves,  and  all  sails  standing,  and  a  hurricane  for 
a  breeze.  2.  Judging  from  hmited  views  and  immediate  ef- 
fects, without  regarding  genera)  and  permanent  results.  The 
world,  both  material  and  intellectual,  is  governed  by  general 
laws,  and  though  the  violation  of  them  may  produce  a  tem- 
porary good,  the  certain  result,  on  the  great  scale,  will  be 
more  than  a  balance  of  general  evil.  Now  the  importance 
of  the  soul  and  of  eternity  is  such,  as  that  good  men  in  a  revi- 
val are  apt  to  feel  no  matter  what  is  said  or  done,  provided 
sinners  are  awakened  and  saved.  But  it  ought  to  be  remem- 
bered, that  though  the  immediate  result  of  some  courses  of 
conduct  may  be  the  salvation  of  some  souls,  the  general  and 
more  abiding  result  may  be  the  ruin  of  a  thousand  souls,  de- 
stroyed by  this  conduct,  to  one  saved  by  it ;  and  destroyed  by 
it  as  instrumentally  in  the  direct  and  proper  sense  of  the 
term,  as  any  are  saved  by  it.  The  sovereignty  of  God  is  not 
to  be  relied  on  in  violation  of  the  great  laws  of  the  moral 
world,  but  in  accordance  with  them.  When  the  thousands 
were  to  be  sealed,  the  four  angels  were  commanded  to  hold 
the  winds,  and  keep  back  the  judgments  which  they  should 
afterwards  execute,  because  war  and  distress  would  impede 
his  work  of  mercy.  Hence  our  Saviour  introduced  the  gos- 
pel dispensation  gradually,  as  the  mind  of  man  could  bear 
it  ;  not  putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles :  and  hence,  too, 
Davenport,  disregarding  the  general  consequences  of  his  con- 
duct, and  intent  only  on  its  immediate  result,  though  he  saved 
a  few,  doubtless  entailed  moral  desolation,  and  darkness, 
and  death,  upon  thousinds  of  uabbrn  generations.  In  a  sin- 
gle hour,  in  this  city,  he  said  and  did  what  had  the  effect  to 
interrupt  in  the  midst  an  auspicious  revival,  and  commenc- 
ed a  captivity  which  has  continued  for  more  than  seventy 
years.  Insomuch,  that  were  not  the  compassion  of  God, 
through  Christ,  infinite,  and  repentance  available,  good  had 
it  been  for  that  man,  and  for  New-England,  if  he  had  never 
been  born.  Beside,  the  limited  success  of  a  given  course, 
whose  general  result  is  injurious,  is  no  evidence  of  divine  ap- 
probation ;  for  God,  as  a  sovereign,  works  by  means  of  great 
relative  imperfection  ;  and  that  there  may  not  be  evil  only, 
makes  the  truth  effectual  which  is  preached,  even  though  the 
manner  may  be  in  some  respects  so  reprehensible,  as  to  de- 
serve the  dereliction  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Success  in  this 
case  only  proves  that  men  are  not  so  outrageously  impru- 
dent, as  to  make  it  seem  necessary  to  heaven,  to  withhold 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  from  the  truth.  No  evidence 
then  is  furnished  by  success,  to  show  that  things  which  good 


96 

men  regard  as  exceptionable,  produce  this  success ;  or  that 
characteristic  excellencies,  without  these  peculiarities,  would 
not  render  the  same  men  still  more  eminently  successful. 
If  revivals  could  be  achieved  in  but  one  way,  and  that  attend- 
ed by  much  reaction  of  evil,  such  is  the  vanity  of  lime  and 
the  worth  of  the  soul,  that  the  sacrifice  should  be  made  ;  but, 
when  revivals,  great,  and  frequent,  and  glorious,  can  be  con- 
ducted in  a  manner  which  strengthens  the  hands  of  pastors, 
and  unites  the  churches,  and  disarms  the  world  of  prejudice, 
and  brings  increasing  power  of  truth  on  the  public  con- 
science, and^aises  up  the  foundations  of  many  generations, 
and  repairs  the  wastes  of  the  revivals  of  other  ages,  there  can 
be  no  excuse  for  conducting  them  in  a  manner  which  shall 
reverse  this  order,  and  let  out  a  civil  war  in  the  church, 
arousing  ministers  against  ministers,  and  dividing  and  dis- 
tracting the  churches  by  wrath,  and  strife,  and  endless  divi- 
sions. The  revivals  in  the  West  do  not-  in  my  judgment, 
owe  their  existence  to  a  single  arm,  and  it  is  too  much  to  be 
taken  for  granted,  that  both  their  immediate  and  ultimate  re- 
sults would  not  have  been  much  better,  if  they  had  been  at- 
tended by  fewer  novelties  and  peculiarities.  For  though 
such  revivals  as  1  have  described,  promoted  by  itinerant  mi- 
nisters only,  would  be  dreadful,  the  same  kind  of  preachmg 
and  conduct  adopted  by  settled  ministers  would  unquestion- 
ably displace  three-fourths  of  the  settled  ministers  in  the 
United  States,  and  instead  of  building  up  the  desolations  that 
now  exist,  would  multiply  them  a  thousand  fold. 

To  some  of  the  consequences  of  a  revival,  conducted  un- 
der such  auspices  as  1  have  described,  1  beg  leave  now  to 
call  your  attention. 

It  will  become  more  and  more  exceptionable.  Urged  by- 
circumstances,  men  will  do  things,  which,  if  in  the  beginning 
they  had  been  predicted,  they  would  have  said,  "Are  thy 
servants  dogs,  that  we  should  do  these  things  ?"  By  degrees, 
however,  all  landmarks  will  be  removed,  and  what  was  once 
regarded  as  important  will  be  set  at  nought,  and  what  would 
once  have  produced  horror  will  be  done  fearlessly.  There 
is  nothing  to  which  the  minds  of  good  men,  when  once  pass- 
ed the  bounds  of  sound  discretion,  and  launched  on  the 
ocean  of  feeling  and  experiment,  may  not  come  too.  But 
the  evil,  which  may  flow  from  those  who  commence  these 
aberrations,  is  but  a  drop  of  the  bucket  in  the  ocean  of  dis- 
order and  misrule  to  which  they  may  open  the  door.  There 
is  nothing  so  terrible  and  unmanageable  as  the  fire  and  whirl- 
wind of  human  passion,  when  once  kindled  by  misguided 
zeal,  and  sanctioned  by  conscience,  and  the  idea  of  being  re- 
viled and  persecuted  for  doing  God  service.     Like  the  cave 


m 

of  iEolus,  or  the  gate  of  Pandemonium,  a  single  arm  may 
suffice  to  lei  out  the  storm.  But  when  once  the  atmosphere 
is  put  in  motion,  no  human  power  can  stop  it,  until  it  has  ex- 
hausted its  fury  in  works  of  moral  desolation.  They  who 
did  the  deed  may  repent  of  it  early,  and  stretch  out  impotent 
hands  to  stay  the  evil ;  and  weep  over  the  desolation  with- 
out being  able  to  repair  it.  The  restoration  of  Davenport 
to  sanity,  and  his  subsequent  confession,  did  not  repair 
the  moral  desolation  which  his  conduct  and  principles  had 
made. 

Another  of  the  evils  to  be  apprehended,  is  opposition  on 
the  part  of  good  men,  and  the  consequent  disunion  of 
the  churches  by  a  civil  war.  The  peculiarities  of  the  system 
I  have  recognised,  cannot  go  through  the  churches  without 
opposition.  Splendid  by  its  early  power,  many  have  yielded 
to  it  who  disapproved  for  fear  they  might  quench  the  Spirit : 
and  many  have  been  silent,  because  they  feared  that  they 
might  speak  against  a  work  of  God.  But  when  the  work 
shall  have  given  out  its  distinct  character,  and  put  off  the  na- 
tures of  love  and  gentleness,  &c.  and  put  on  those  of  wrath 
and  strife  :  when  other  reformers  shall  hasten  on  to  new  dis- 
coveries, and  surpass  their  predecessors  as  much  as  these 
surpassed  others  :  and  denounce  them  as  they  denounced 
those  who  could  not  go  with  them  ;  when  stripling  imitators 
of  pious  men,  having  nothing  in  common  with  them  but  their 
imprudence,  without  thoir  age  and  moral  power,  shall  go  out 
to  outrage  humanity  and  caricature  revivals  of  religion, 
then  will  these  irregularities  be  met,  and  then  the  collision 
will  be  keen  and  dreadful.  For,  in  every  church,  there  is 
wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  which  will  be  sure  to  take  fire  on  the 
wrong  side.  All  your  periodical  Christians,  who  sleep  from 
one  revival  to  another,  will  be  sure  to  blaze  out  now  ;  while 
judicious  ministers  and  the  more  judicious  part  of  the  church, 
will  be  destined  to  stand,  like  the  bush,  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames  ;  while  these  periodical  Christians  will  make  up,  by 
present  zeal  for  their  past  stupidity,  and  chide  as  cold  heart- 
ed formalists,  those,  whose  even,  luminous  course  sheds  re- 
proof on  their  past  coldness  and  stupidity.  The  converts 
too  will  catch  the  same  spirit ;  and  go  forth  to  catechise  aged 
Christians ;  and  wonder  why  old  saints  donH  sing,  and  make 
the  heavenly  arches  ring,  as  they  do  ; — and  that  shall  come 
to  pass,  which  was  spoken  by  Isaiah  the  prophet,  as  the  des- 
truction of  human  society  and  the  consummution  of  divine 
wrath  upon  man,  when  children  shall  be  princes  in  the 
church,  and  babes  shall  rule  over  her,  and  the  child  shall 
behave  hinself  proudly  against  the  ancient,  and  the  base 
against  the  honourable. 

13 


98 

Another  evil  to  be  feared  is,  that  it  will  unavoidably  array 
a  large  portion  of  the  unrenewed  part  of  the  community 
against  revivals  and  religion ;  and  produce  infidels,  scoffers, 
Unitarians,  and  Universalists,  on  every  side — increasing  the 
resistance  seven  fold  to  evangehcal  doctrine  ;  withdrawing 
in  proportion,  the  voluntary  support  of  the  Gospel ;  and 
consigning  the  precious  cause  of  Christ,  which  ought  and 
might  govern  public  opinion,  to  the  hands  of  a  feeble,  despis- 
ed, dispirited  few,  who  watch  the  holy  fire  upon  the  deserted 
altar  of  God.  All  forms  of  error  will  grow  rank  from  the 
aliment  of  such  violence  done  to  the  laws  of  humanity  and 
to  the  laws  of  God.  The  extravagances  of  the  pious  in  the 
time  of  Cromwell  threw  back  the  cause  of  vital  piety  in 
England  for  two  centuries,  to  a  state  of  imbecility  and  scorn, 
and  has  furnished  topics  to  grace  the  pages  of  infidel  histo- 
rians, poets,  and  orators,  through  every  succeeding  genera- 
tion. 

Another  effect  to  be  deprecated  is,  that  it  will  prevent  the 
great  evangelical  assimilation,  which  is  forming  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  and  paralyze  general  efforts  as  much  as  private 
churches.  The  rumour  of  extravagance  would  soon  begin  to 
press  hard  upon  the  friends  of  revivals  in  New-England ; 
who  could  not  and  would  not  take  the  responsibility  of  justi- 
fying what  they  disapproved,  and  would  be  compelled  in  self- 
defence,  publicly  to  clear  themselves,  ns  havmg  no  part  nor 
lot  in  such  matters.  Thprc  is  also  n  large  portion  of  the 
church  out  of  New-England,  which  is  evangelical,  but  which 
is  acquainted  with  revivals  more  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
than  by  eyesight  and  experience ;  and  who,  between  doubt 
and  fear,  are  approaching  the  happy  day,  when  the  breath 
of  the  Lord  may  breathe  upon  them.  Upon  all  these,  a  revi- 
val of  extravagance  and  disorder  would  exert  a  deadly  influ- 
ence, and  for  one  generation,  at  least,  protract  the  form 
without  the  power  of  religion.  While  all  the  enemies  of 
evangelical  doctrines  and  of  revivals,  would  keep  a  jubilee, 
that  these  days  of  hated  light  had  gone  by,  and  given  place  to 
the  reign  of  reason  and  formality. 

Another  thing  to  be  feared  is,  that  meeting  in  their  career 
with  the  most  determined  opposition  from  educated  minis- 
ters, and  Colleges,  and  Seminaries,  all  these  in  succession 
would  be  denounced,  and  held  up  as  objects  of  popular  odi- 
um, and  a  host  of  ardent,  inexperienced,  impudent  young 
men  be  poured  out,  as  from  the  hives  of  the  North,  to  oblit- 
erate civilization,  and  roll  back  the  wheels  of  time  to  semi- 
barbarism  ;  until  New-England  of  the  West  shall  be  burnt 
over,  and  religion  disgraced  and  trodden  down  as  in  some 
parts  of  New-England  it  was  done  80  years  ago  :  when  lay- 


99 

men  and  women,  Indians  and  negroes,  male  and  female, 
preached  and  prayed  and  exhorted,  until  confusion  itself  be- 
came confounded. — There  is  nothing  so  powerful  as  the 
many  waters  of  human  passion,  and  nothing  so  terrible  as 
the  overflowing  of  such  a  scourge :  and  a  dispensation  so 
calamitous  would  be  more  intolerable,  as  it  is  so  utterly 
needless,  and  would  come  so  unexpectedly  in  the  very  dawn- 
ing of  a  bright  day.  The  nature  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  the 
human  mind,  and  the  mode  of  exhibiting  truth  and  conduct- 
ing revivals,  have  been  developed,  and  practised  with  such 
success,  that  in  New-England,  and  to  a  great  extent  through 
the  nation,  the  conviction  is  established,  that  they  are  the 
work  of  God,  and  most  benign  in  their  moral  influence  upon 
the  present  as  well  as  the  future  life.  Extensively  opposition 
is  silenced,  and  the  public  mind  is  fist  preparing  to  come 
under  the  influence  of  faithful  preaching,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost.  In  New-England  revivals  are  becoming  more  fre- 
quent in  the  same  places,  and  more  general  in  their  extent. 
There  seems  to  be  a  joyful  and  rapid  spread  of  the  work  of 
God :  but  one  overflowing  of  a  violent,  ungoverned  revival 
would  snatch  the  victory  from  truth,  and  throw  revivals  back 
at  least  fifty  years.  It  would  be  the  greatest  calamity  that 
could  befall  this  young  empire.  The  perversion  of  the  popu- 
lar taste,  and  the  extinction  of  the  popular  prejudice  against 
learning,  and  a  learned  ministry,  where  an  enlightened  pub- 
lic sentiment,  coupled  with  enlightened  piety,  is  our  all, 
would  be  to  us,  nearly,  what  the  incursions  of  the  northern 
barbarians  were  to  the  Roman  Empire.  It  would  stop  all 
our  improvements,  and  throw  us  back  in  civilization,  science, 
and  religion,  at  least  a  whole  century.  It  would  constitute 
an  era  of  calamity  never  to  be  forgotten,  and  be  referred  to 
by  future  historians  as  the  dark  age  of  our  republic.  There 
are  parts  of  our  nation,  to  which  I  might  refer  you,  which 
were  burnt  over  by  such  a  revival  some  20  years  ago,  where 
the  abiding  evils  may  still  be  seen  in  the  state  of  society 
which  has  followed.  And  there  too,  with  all  their  extrava- 
gances of  falling,  and  groaning,  and  laughing,  and  jumping, 
and  dancing,  were  regarded  by  many,  and  by  some  very  good 
men,  as  a  new  dispensation  of  the  Spirit, — a  new  mode  of 
conducting  revivals  with  power  ;  and  those,  who  rode  on  the 
foremost  waves,  thought  themselves  to  be,  and  were  thought 
to  be,  raised  up  to  be  reformers  in  their  day,  oh,  my  brother ! 
if  a  victorious  army  should  overflow  and  lay  us  waste,  or  if 
a  fire  should  pass  over  and  lay  every  dwelling  in  our  land  in 
ashes,  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  be  coveted  with  thanksgiving, 
in  comparison  to  the  moral  desolation  of  one  ungoverned 


100 

revival  of  religion ;  for  physical  evils  can  be  speedily  repair- 
ed, but  the  desolation  of  moral  causes  is  deep  and  abiding. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  the  evil  may,  with  perfect  ease,  be 
avoided,  without  diminishing  the  true  spirit  and  power  of  a  re- 
vival ;  but  in  every  respect  shall  increase  it.  There  is  no 
need  of  praying  as  if  God  and  man  were  deaf,  or  of  wallow- 
ing on  the  floor,  and  frothing  at  the  mouth,  as  if  filled  with 
hydrophobia,  instead  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  nor  any  harm  in 
kindness  and  gentleness  ;  nor  any  benefit  in  harsh  and  severe 
epithets.  The  state  of  man  may  be  explained  to  him  so  that 
he  shall  believe  and  feel,  better  than  by  calling  him  a  devil,  a 
viper,  or  a  serpent.  There  may  be  as  great  directness  as  is 
needed,  or  as  is  possible,  without  indecorum  ;  and  the  gospel 
may  be  preached  faithfully,  and  attended  with  the  power  of 
God,  without  groaning  in  prayer,  and  crying  "  Amen,"  and 
without  female  prayers  and  exhortations,  and  without  that 
spiritual  pride,  which  never  fails  to  attend  pressing  the  mass 
of  the  community  out  of  their  place,  and  shaking  together  in 
one  chaldron  of  effervescence,  all  the  passions  of  all  the  class- 
es in  human  society.  I  would  not,  brethren,  on  any  account, 
deter  you  from  the  propagation  of  revivals  ;  and  I  believe  if 
brother  F.  will  take  counsel,  he  may  be  an  invaluable  bless- 
ing. The  thing  which  I  have  wished  to  accomplish  is,  to  en- 
able you  so  to  perceive  the  defects  and  dangers  of  your  mode 
of  conducting  revivals,  as  that  you  shall  be  induced  to  part 
with  its  unseemly  warts  and  excrescences,  without  diminish- 
ing at  all  the  energy  and  warmth  of  the  healthful  pulsation  of 
their  hearts,  or  abating  the  moral  courage  or  humble  bold- 
ness with  which  you  pray  and  preach,  or  the  directness  and 
power  with  which  you  address  the  consciences  of  men.  In 
short,  that  revivals,  conducted  under  your  auspices,  may  be 
so  conducted,  as  that,  surpassing  in  power  any  you  have  seen, 
all  good  men  may  hail  their  approach,  and  give  you  their  un- 
divided countenance,  and  none  but  wicked  men  and  hypo- 
crites fear  and  tremble. 

Dear  brethren  in  Christ;  you  must  not,  for  a  moment,  sup- 
pose that  I  do  not  fervently  love  you :  or  that  I  ascribe  to 
you,  in  extenso^  all  the  defects  to  which  I  have  alluded ;  but 
that  1  have  drawn  the  outlines  of  a  moral  chart,  which  such 
a  disastrous  revival,  as  your  present  course  could  not  fail  to 
lead  to,  would  amply  fill  up,  I  have  not  a  doubt.  That  you 
will  appreciate  my  motives,  and  not  be  offended,  I  cannot  but 
believe ;  and  I  have  equal  confidence  that  you  will  appreci- 
ate the  considerations  which  I  have  suggested,  and  will,  as 
fast  and  as  far  as  possible,  supersede  our  fears,  by  a  course 
that  all  good  men  will  approve  and  rejoice  in. 

The  happiness  and  strength  of  New-England  consists  in 


101 

the  fact,  that,  with  few  exceptions,  none  of  us  ride  hobby- 
horses, or  set  up  for  reformers  upon  our  own  simple  stock  of 
wisdom  or  moral  power,  but  with  great  harmony  and  love, 
consult,  and  give  and  take  advice.  This  makes  the  church 
terrible  as  an  army  with  banners  to  her  foes. 

I  cannot  ask  you  to  reply  particularly  to  so  long  a  letter, 
but  it  is  my  earnest  request  that  you  will  reply  to  it  early,  and 
let  me  know  how  it  strikes  you;  whether  it  is  plain,  and  di- 
rect, and  strong  enough, — so  as  to  be  up  to  the  mark  -  and 
if  in  any  respect  you  would  Hke  discussion,  that  you  will  give 
me  opportunity  of  retracting,  if  I  am  wrong ;  or  of  convinc- 
ing you,  if  I  am  right. 

I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  consult  good  men  around  you, 
and  especially  brother  Nettleton,  whose  judgment  and  long 
experience  in  revivals,  and  knowledge  of  human  nature,  can- 
not be  safely  disregarded. 

But,  if  at  length  you  should  be  verging  to  the  conclusion 
that  you  must  go  on  as  you  have  done,  I  must  beseech  and 
entreat,  you  will  halt  and  pray,  until  there  can  be  time  for  a 
meeting  of  a  few  Christian  brethren  with  you,  in  which,  viva 
voce,  we  may  kindly,  but  thoroughly  and  prayerfully,  talk 
over  the  entire  subject ;  and  see  if  we  cannot  bring  matters 
to  a  state  in  which  we  can  all  act  as  one. 

I  am,  affectionately,  your  brother, 

LYMAN  BEECHER. 

Rev.  Nathan  S.  S.  Beman, 


103 


FROM    THE    NEW-rORK    OBSERVER. 

Boston,  Nov.  8,  1827. 
It  having  been  represented  to  some  of  the  subscribers,  that 
we  disapproved  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nettle- 
ton,  in  reviewing  a  sermon  preached  at  Troy,  March  4,  1827, 
and  in  opposing  the  sentiments  and  practices  which  it  seem- 
ed intended  to  vindicate  and  extend,  we  regard  ourselves  as 
called  upon  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  say,  that  the  proceedings 
of  Mr.  Nettleton  appear  to  us  to  have  been  cliaracterised  by 
uncommon  intellectual  vigour,  correct  and   comprehensive 
views  of  the  interests  of  the  church,  and  by  distinguished 
wisdom,  fidelity,  firmness,  and  benevolence,  well  adapted  to 
promote  the  interests  of  pure  religion  throughout  the  land. 
Signed, 
Lyman  Beecher,  Jnstin  Edwards, 

A.  S.  Norton,  Heman  Hiimpkrey, 

Wm.  R.  Weeks,  C.  J.  Tenney, 

H.  R.  Weed,  J.  Hawes. 


Catskill,  July  U,  1827. 
Some  of  the  reasons  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nettleton  assign- 
ed to  his  brethren  in  New-England,  for  not  attending  the 
convention.  He  was  afterwards  prevailed  on  to  attend,  from 
the  consideration  that  great  advantage  would  undoubtedly 
be  taken  of  his  absence,  and  for  the  sake  of  reading  his  cor- 
respondence, to  show  them  what  had  been  done : — 

1.  Feeble  health,  &;c. 

2.  1  have  been  compelled  by  ministers  to  talk  and  exhaust 
all  my  strength,  and  to  spend  nearly  all  my  time,  for  about 
eight  months,  on  this  subject.  I  have  done  all  that  I  can  ; 
and  have  been  greatly  blamed  by  many  for  what  I  have  done. 
I  have  resigned  the  subject  entirely  to  the  management  of 
settled  pastors,  whose  business  alone  it  is  to  determine  the 
question,  what  measures  shall  be  introduced  into  their 
churches. 

3.  Every  thing  I  have  said  or  done  has  been  so  perverted, 
and  my  motives  so  impeached,  that  I  choose  henceforth  to 
be  silent. 

4.  I  know  not  who  have  been  invited,  or  whether  they  ex- 
pect to  attend. 


103 

5.  It  has  been  reported  at  the  West,  that  the  convention 
was  originated  by  myself;  in  Troy,  and  elsewhere,  that  I  am 
opposed  to  it ;  so  that,  whatever  the  result  may  be,  I  have 
discovt  red  a  determination  to  throw  the  consequences  of  the 
meeting  on  myself. 

G.  No  ministers  will  be  bound  by  the  decisions  of  such  a 
convention. 

7.  Tiiose  who  convoke  the  convention  are  making  too 
much  noise,  without  any  prospect  of  lessening  the  evils,  and, 
consequently,  will  give  the  subject  a  new  importance.  I 
should  greatly  prefer  a  silent  convention,  on  some  public  oc- 
casion like  that  of  a  commencement,  where  the  views  of  bre- 
thren who  differ  may  be  privately  discussed  ;  and  in  case  they 
should  come  to  any  important  results,  they  might  be  publish- 
ed to  the  world  ;  otherwise  the  public  mind  need  not  be  dis- 
turbed. 

8.  The  convention  may  now  be  considered  as  having  ta- 
ken the  same  business  into  their  own  hands,  and  as  having 
m.ade  pubHc,  what  1  have  long  been  wishing  to  settle  as  "si- 
lently as  possible  :  hence  I  ought  to  be  excused. 

9.  I  have  never  desired  a  convention  on  any  other  ground, 
than  to  give  directions  and  support  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
presbytery  of  Troy,  or  of  some  regularly  organized  body. 

10.  Every  attempt  which  has  hitherto  been  made  to  cor- 
rect any  irregular  practice,  has  been  construed  into  coldness, 
deadness,  and  called  persecution. 

11.  1  never  yet,  to  my  recollection,  have  fallen  out  with 
settled  pastors,  and  I  fear  I  cannot  act  my  own  judgment  and 
conscience  without  crossing  theirs. 

12.  I  have  no  controversy  with  any  man  on  the  subject, 
and  I  fear,  if  I  attend,  it  will  be  construed  into  a  personal 
controversy,  and  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  avoid  it. 

13.  I  fear  that  settled  mmisters  at  the  East  and  South  have 
not  yet  felt  enough  of  the  evils,  to  appreciate  what  has  al- 
ready been  done  ;  and  that  these  ministers  will  be  obliged  to 
experience  more  of  these  evils,  before  they  will  take  a  deci- 
sive stand  ;  and  the  sooner  1  withdraw,  and  leave  the  whole 
responsibility  on  them,'  the  better. 

14.  Every  body  wishes  to  take  neutral  ground  as  long  as 
he  possibly  can  :  it  w^as  so  with  myself. 

15.  The  plea  of  Mr.  Finney,  that  he  wished  to  sit  at  my 
feet  and  learn,  1  believe  was  an  after-device  to  justify  himself 
in  not  correcting  any  thing.  No  complaint  was  ever  hinted 
at  the  time.  Indeed,  after  my  last  interview  with  Mr.  Finney, 
the  friends  of  the  new  measures  continued  to  report  that  N. 
and  F.  are  one  ;  and  this  report  continued  in  circulation  until 
my  letter  to  Aikin  could  be  concealed  no  longer. 


104 

16.  The  judgment,  and  counsel,  and  consciences  of  so 
many  ministers  and  Christians  have  been  trampled  upon,  that 
I  fear  there  has  been  great  sin. 

17.  1  fear  to  have  any  fellowship  with  such  a  spirit.  I  fear 
a  retribution.  From  my  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 
with  many  ministers  who  have  been  denounced,  and  from  my 
slight  acquaintance  with  their  denouncers,  1  greatly  prefer 
to  rank  myself  with  the  former. 

18.  1  have  reasons  in  my  own  mind,  which  prudence  for- 
bids me  to  name  to  the  world,  and  yet  am  willing  to  give 
them  to  some  of  the  eastern  brethren,  should  they  attend. 

19.  Finally.  To  prevent  misunderstanding,  1  am  willing 
that  my  friends  should  attend,  and  do  all  in  their  power  to 
prevent  the  evils  feared.  But  I  have  no  evidence  that  the 
principles  on  which  these  men  acted  are  in  the  least  altered. 
On  the  contrary,  1  shall  be  disappointed  if  they  do  not  at- 
tempt to  vindicate  them,  and  justify  all  they  have  done. 


€i 


